Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending and wish him well in his work. Who are the diaspora? How are they defined?

I am conscious of the fact that when I was growing up in Ireland, travel to other countries, mainly to Britain, was part and parcel of one's life. People went to England to find work in construction to build tunnels and railway lines. As we know, there are now elderly Irish people living there who have been left behind. They have to be communicated with, which is why people here have been arguing for the continuation of RTE's long wave broadcasting system. While I appreciate there are emigrant associations in various places that do excellent work on behalf of emigrants, does the Minister of State agree that there is another element? Those who have left Ireland within the past 15 years are highly educated, mobile and accessible using Skype or smart phones. I received a telephone call this morning from Albania which I have not yet had a chance to return. Nowadays people can communicate easily. People who are younger are availing of work opportunities available around the world. On the other hand, there are older people, former building workers, who are seen as older emigrants. Do we pay enough attention to the modern Irish who would not even know RTE has a long wave broadcasting service? The differences are that great but social communications are important.

As a small nation, I thought we were doing fairly well in dealing with the diaspora owing to the success of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, which are phenomenal. St. Patrick's Day was even celebrated this year in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, with its magnificent town hall being turned green. More and more countries are coming on board, while the GAA is increasingly engaging with the diaspora. I am more concerned, however, about and interested in what is stated on the first page of the Minister of State's contribution, in which he referred to the fact that the European Union had indicated that we were remiss in not affording voting rights to the disapora. How does one define the diaspora? Does it include Irish citizens exclusively? Is its size calculated by the number of passports? Does the Minister of State know how many Irish passports have been issued? He hid the complexity of how one could give voting rights in general elections to residents of Northern Ireland, for example, be they loyalists or republicans, let alone move further afield. As a member of this committee, I am conscious that many countries have afforded members of their diaspora the right to vote in their embassies all over the world, including Albania. While I appreciate that the Minister of State wants to give away 3,000 certificates and may have printed that number, he certainly has not distributed them yet. It is a nice gesture, but it is tokenism. With all due respect to him, the hard core issue is how we can afford citizenship rights to Irish citizens who wish to participate in elections here.