Chairman:

I assure Mr. Bell that we will again take up with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade the possibility of drawing down financial assistance from the emigrant support programme. In his opening statement, Mr. Bell emphasised proper governance standards. Naturally, the Department is rigorous with regard to public expenditure, as we all advocate. We understand the need for accounts and relevant funding streams.

We will take up with the charity regulator the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust's application for charity status. I sincerely hope we can advance this. We can write as a committee, those of us who are Deputies can table parliamentary questions and our colleagues in the Seanad can also raise the issue. Mr. Bell will have the full support of the committee and its members in advancing the application.

In the past I heard the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, speak about insurance and creating awareness of the need to have travel insurance. This was referred to by Deputies O'Sullivan and Grealish and Senator Lawless. At our upcoming meetings we will discuss the Department's draft strategy for the coming years, which we received yesterday. Perhaps we can place particular emphasis on this in the Department strategy so that there will be a continuous effort to create awareness among people who are travelling on the need to maintain their insurance. They may have insurance for the journey out but for no longer than that, or it may expire while they are travelling. We need to create awareness about this, particularly when so many people travel. Unfortunately, some emigrate to seek employment. However, more and more people travel for recreational purposes such as sightseeing and visiting friends abroad. There is a huge movement of people and the insurance issue is something about which we need to create better awareness.

Mr. Bell and his colleagues see the absolute support they have from the committee for their work and also the appreciation of the outstanding work Mr. Bell and his family and other support groups have done to help ease the plight of so many families who unfortunately have suffered tragedies. In counties Cavan and Monaghan, which I represent, the work of the trust has been very beneficial in repatriating bodies. The families and local communities subsequently raise major funding to assist the work. Not only does the family appreciate the support, so does the broader community. As I stated, the committee will fully support Mr. Bell to the greatest extent possible in the extremely valuable work he does. We thank him very much for attending. I emphasise that Mr. Bell has been very magnanimous and generous in coming here to outline how the birth of the repatriation trust came about in the most tragic of circumstances for him and his family. We sincerely thank him for coming before the committee.