Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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We will proceed to No. 2 on our agenda, namely, the minutes of the previous meeting. The draft minutes of the meeting of 29 January have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed. An issue relating to the Irish International Immigrant Center in Boston was raised at last Wednesday's meeting by Senator Daly. I agreed to meet the relevant officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss the issue in question and report back to the committee. The position is that the matter is being dealt with by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and, as a result of his commitments during the past week, no further information is available at present. I hope to report on the matter further at next week's meeting. Part of the problem is that we normally meet on Wednesdays but this week we are meeting today, Tuesday. I hope to have further news next week.

At last week's meeting members referred to our meetings clashing with those of the Joint Committee on European Affairs. Normally that committee meets on Tuesday afternoons - on occasion it convenes on Thursdays - so clashes do not occur. In the event that the two committees are due to meet at the same time, the clerks of both will consult to ensure the avoidance of a clash.