Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Okay. I am just trying to get a handle on things to see where aid goes. Can we get the budget sheets on them to see what the money is spent on?

Perhaps we could get that at some stage so we see where money is going. It is welcome that it goes to Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. I would just like to see how it is spent, especially with the aid trucks not able to get into Gaza at the moment. Where does the funding go if the aid trucks are not getting into Gaza? It is very disturbing to see all the women, children and families starving.

Regarding the diaspora, I brought that up as part of my brief. I am interested to hear about the emigrant support programme. How much do we do for our diaspora when they go away from home? With regard to driving tests, for example, when they come back to Ireland and have a driving licence, can they get transfer to an Irish driving licence? In addition, for people coming from other countries - it might not come under the Minister of State’s remit but I know he can help with it - many are working as care staff and they have international driving licences which, at the moment, they cannot transfer. With the backlog for driving tests, it might be something he could look into under his brief as well to ensure that happens, and for the diaspora. They could be away in America for 20 years, they come home but they cannot transfer their licence, and have to do a driving test again. It would cut back on the backlog.

It has been pointed out to me that people who had PRSI stamps before they went away and became part of the diaspora are not eligible to use them again when they come back as part of their pension plan. Perhaps the Minister of State could look into that as well.

On the undocumented Irish in countries like Australia, or more so America because nearly everybody is documented in Australia, has the Minister of State been talking to the President to try to get some documentation for those Irish, because the Irish are needed in America?