David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I welcome our guests and thank them and their organisation for all of the work they do. It is much appreciated.

Do we have any idea of how many people from Ireland are undocumented in the United States? Last January to was a headline in one of the publications over there that the immigration reform Bill could see more than 20,000 undocumented Irish given a route to citizenship. Is there any idea of the numbers? I am aware that a lot of the people may not be known or may not have made themselves known but the coalition may have a handle on how many people are over there.

As a previous speaker has said, could witnesses give us an idea of a breakdown of ages and how long people have been there? Are there any statistics around that? The representatives might not have those figures to hand right now and if not perhaps they could send them on to the committee for our information.

I am quite interested in the issue of wellness and mental health, which comes up again and again. If there is anything the committee can do to assist there, we would like to know about that.

I will turn to the issue of Irish people who want to visit the United States of America. Currently there is a complete ban but questions have been asked about people who have been vaccinated in Ireland. Many of us have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which I understand is not recognised in the United States. If and when the ban might be eased, which hopefully will be soon, has there been any discussion on the recognition of vaccines with regard to people from Europe who want to travel to America to visit family there? This also applies to me and other colleagues, for example, who have been vaccinated with this AstraZeneca vaccine.