Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last year, €2.3 million went to welfare organisations through our emigrant support programme, which was 70% of the overall programme funding that went to the United States. In San Francisco, there are ambitious plans for remodelling the centre there. We will stay in touch with our consulate and I have asked the group in Boston to stay in touch with the consulate there and ourselves to keep us informed. With regard to the funding for this year, the applications closed yesterday and there will be approximately 400 projects from 200 organisations to be evaluated. I do not know if Boston is in that group but I can find out. The Deputy can ask the group to stay in touch with us and our officials and let us know what are the specific plans. As I mentioned, the group is ambitious and has a fantastic facility. The Deputy has been there and knows about the football pitches. They have brought in different types of activities for young people and it is a great model that we should promote for other centres around the world. It is inclusive and it addresses the generational gap as many centres and communities in the United States find it difficult to get young Irish people involved. That is a great model.

The Chairman mentioned the undocumented and, as I mentioned, 70% of the funding goes to welfare organisations that support the undocumented. We are looking at extra funding for that. I have been to San Francisco, New York and Boston already and have been working very closely with those organisations.

At a political level, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade visited Washington from late January to early February, where he met representatives from both sides of the US Senate and Congress. His meetings are a critically important part of the strategic approach that we have adopted to the issue of the undocumented Irish. Ms Anne Anderson, the Irish ambassador to the United States, held a meeting on 12 January that was attended by Senator Billy Lawless and representatives of all our consulates. The Department has adopted a strategic follow-up approach rather than a piecemeal or one-off approach. While I do not want to create an expectation for the undocumented Irish, I note that prior to the new Administration taking office there was fear about the J1 programme. Last night, however, extra J1 places were announced. The point is we have a rich American-Irish relationship that the Minister has nurtured on a weekly basis.