Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Murray for his submission which was very positive, upbeat and informative in terms of the huge potential that exists in terms of the Asian market. Mr. Murray mentioned that people in Ireland have the impression that everybody knows about Ireland, which I suspect is the result of the greening of buildings worldwide on St. Patrick's Day and so on. However, once that day is over Ireland fades into the background.

I would like to concentrate on the barriers in the tourism area and so on. I have dealt with cases on behalf of people whose family members were waiting six months for visas for a two or three week visit to Ireland. I presume Mr. Murray has engaged with the Department of Justice and Equality on the visa issue. What can this committee do in that regard? Mr. Murray told us of the US experience in relation to visas. Are there practical actions that the committee can recommend to the Department, which I know is reluctant to change policy in this area? Some television stars from China came to Ireland last year. Was there an increase in uptake following that event? When it comes to European tours Ireland is not often not included. In regard to New Grange and other similar sites, are these marketed enough when selling Ireland abroad?

Mr. Murray spoke about the need to promote Irish financial services. Why would someone from Asia choose Irish financial services over similar services in Macau or London? I found Mr. Murray's comments in relation to Brexit very interesting, particularly that while many Brexiteers are speaking about China, Japan and so on as potential markets for investment the Japanese feel let down in relation to their investment in Britain and are pulling out it. Mr. Murray mentioned that businesses are reluctant to locate to Ireland because of the perception that there is a lack of office space and housing in Dublin city centre and so on. Is that a perception or a reality?

In regard to Mr. Murray's comments about embassy footprint and so on, the Department will say that there is a financial cost to embassy provision and that resources are limited. Has Mr. Murray made a business case to the Department in regard to the ten additional people for China and the opening of an office in Manila? Mr. Murray made some very strong remarks about FÁS pulling out of the graduate programme.

I would be interested to hear from FÁS why it did so. Mr. Murray spoke of the potential in education and said there had been a 40% increase in the number of Chinese people studying in Ireland. What is the Department's ambition in this area? It seems a huge increase. Is accommodation a problem when it comes to encouraging this? At the education committee we discussed how some universities seemed to target a city in China by sending a pathfinder.

As Ireland's only Asia think tank providing business learning, does Asia Matters provide advice to companies and prospective investors on human rights? I ask because some of the countries in the region have deplorable human rights records, with some violations carried out by private business. Last month, the Government launched the Irish national action plan on business and human rights, following years of anticipation, although it is not as detailed or robust as many of us would like to see. Has Asia Matters made its members aware of it and does it provide advice to companies who want to ensure they do not get involved in investments that violate human rights?

The map shows how people invest in these countries but one would not even encourage people to travel to some of them, never mind invest in them. Is that a difficulty? North Korea hops out from the page in this regard. Do such matters worry investors in the wider region?