Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

This is an important point, because it is not just an online consultation. The consultation has not yet officially opened. Just by way of information, our diaspora strategy lapses in December this year and we will launch a new one in April. The task given to me by the Tánaiste is to prepare a new strategy reflective of the profiled needs and demands of the Irish diaspora today, which evolve.

In terms of the engagements, I have had two official diaspora consultations. So far, these have been in person. One was in Nairobi and one just last night in Brussels. In those consultations, we bring a cross-section of selected Irish community members together. Depending on each country, then, there are representatives of the business community, Conradh na Gaeilge, the GAA, cultural and music organisations, as well as those who have just played a proactive part. Those people are specifically identified and include a mix of stakeholders and well-known individuals. In terms of the breadth of where we will have those consultations, I will also travel, as I mentioned, to Boston on Monday to carry out a consultation and then in Philadelphia. Further consultations will be held in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow later this month. As I alluded to earlier, there will also be consultations open to Oireachtas Members. Consultations will also be held here in Ireland. Some of the other countries I will visit personally include Argentina, which has the largest non-native English-speaking Irish diaspora, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, Canada, other parts of the United States and France. In July, I think we will open the full online consultation. It will involve an extensive number of online requests for input. This is not just about people being asked to tell us what they think. It is very thematic and structured. The questions posed include what does Irishness mean, what more can the Government do and how it feels to be Irish in X country today. Supplementary to that, our embassy teams, led by officials based in Iveagh House, will also be engaging with the Irish community abroad. The process is currently under way in Singapore and will commence in Australia later this week.