H.E. Mr. Dan Mulhall:

I obviously follow the British debate on EU membership very carefully in the newspapers and in other media, but also by talking to senior people in the British system. I also attend quite a few of these think tanks, including the Centre for European Reform and Chatham House. I am invited to an increasing number of events which have as their topic Britain's future in Europe. While it is not a matter for me to judge, my sense is that the debate about Britain's future in Europe is expanding, developing and moving forward. I and my colleagues at the embassy will continue to monitor that debate as it evolves and advise Dublin on the direction of the debate as it progresses in the months and years ahead.

Whereas I think we are quite at liberty to express a view about Britain's membership of the EU because we are also members of the EU - it is a club to which we belong and it is clearly relevant to us - I think we need to maintain a strict silence on Scotland. People have made valiant efforts to draw me out on Scotland and I have refused to be drawn. I was posted to Scotland for three years at the end of the 1990s. I opened the consulate general there so I know Scotland very well and know the people involved, but that makes me even more wary about making any comment. Any comment one might make, even one that might seem tangential, is likely to put one on one side of the argument or the other, an argument that is essentially a matter for Scotland.

My view is that whatever happens to Scotland or to the UK's position in Europe, our aim as a country must be to ensure our interests are protected and that the advantages we now derive from our relations with the UK generally and from our relations with Scotland continue to prevail, even if the structure of those particular entities changes and their relations with each other and with the European Union change. We must try to ensure our positive relations with our nearest neighbour are affected as little as possible by changes in the UK's composition or its European orientation.

We are aware of about 200 Irish organisations that have at one time or another made an application for funding from the ESP, including Coatbridge, because our consul general in Edinburgh, Pat Bourne, is very active in Scotland. I know he was at the Coatbridge festival because I saw it on his Twitter account a short while ago. Last weekend he also attended the All-Britain Fleadh which took place in Scotland. We are connecting with as many parts of the Irish community as we possibly can. We will continue to look for Irish connections throughout Britain.

Of course, ultimately it requires an Irish organisation to lodge an application for funding. The funding is not provided to individuals but to organisations which must have some kind of solid track record locally. We vet these applications very carefully. I have two colleagues at the embassy who do a huge amount of work in monitoring and connecting with the Irish community organisations to ensure the money we make available through the emigrant support programme is being used to the maximum possible effect.

For me one of the great moments of the President's visit was when Her Majesty at the state banquet said she regretted that there had been some discrimination against Irish people in the past, but that she wanted to make it clear that her country was a better country because of the contribution of the Irish community. That comment was widely reported in the Irish media in Britain. It went down extremely well with members of our community who saw themselves being recognised at the highest level. The queen also hosted a reception in Buckingham Palace for the Irish community about three weeks before the state visit. That was an extraordinary occasion. It involved people who had been in Britain for 30, 40, 50 or 60 years and saw their country and their identity being recognised at the highest level. That was a great moment for the Irish community in Britain.

As far as North-South bodies are concerned, that is a policy matter and I do not really want to comment on it. Clearly every economic activity that connects us with our nearest neighbour in a positive and constructive way is to be encouraged. I agree with the Deputy that the east-west connection has really flourished over the past ten years, about which we should be very happy because it gives great benefit to Ireland. It also gives great benefit to Britain because we are the fifth biggest export market for the UK.