H.E. Mr. Dan Mulhall:

I realise I failed to answer one or two questions from the previous round because I had written them on a second page and I did not get to it. Deputy Mitchell asked about secondments from other Departments. In my view these are extremely valuable. It is not a new practice and has gone on for quite some time. For as long as I can remember there have always been people at the embassy in London from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation or its predecessor, and at present there are two. We have also always had a representative from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. In Berlin there was a representative from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but not from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. For me it is a win-win because we get extra resources at the embassy and we get people with other skills. I work extremely closely, and have daily contact, with my colleagues from the Departments. They work very much as part of our team, which is very important because we cannot have separate operations running simultaneously in a country. We must have an integrated joined-up team Ireland approach, which is the approach we pursue.

Deputy Mitchell also asked about the attitude of business to the debate about Britain and the EU. I work with many of the Irish business networks. Recently we hosted an event at the embassy for the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. We have also held events for other chambers of commerce. The business community in Britain is very active on the question of Britain's future in the European Union. A wonderful report was published by the Confederation of British Industry last November, at the time of its annual congress, about Britain's future in Europe. It is well worth reading and shows the business community in Britain is very much seized of the issue. Last week, the Centre for European Reform also brought out a very good report which argues that if Britain were to leave the European Union, it would not result in reduced regulation because the regulation would need to be in place on a national basis anyway. There is much good discussion on the issue of Britain in Europe. We are following the debate very carefully and will continue to do so. Nobody has reached the point of discussing contingencies because we do not know what the future will bring. We must be ready to respond as the situation develops because of the significance of our relations with the UK.

With regard to the forgotten Irish I will give a little anecdote. Recently I visited Mind Yourself, which started as a women's support charity network.

It now has a more general remit and works with four or give groups, all of which deal with issues of vulnerability. I gave a little talk and read a few poems for its literary group. In responding, one man told me that he had two homes, in that when he went to Ireland, he felt like he was going home, but when he returned to London after his holiday in Ireland, he felt like he was going home as well. I told him that was how it should be and asked him would it not be terrible if he was living in a country and always pining away for his old country? Would it also not be a terrible thing if he forgot the country of his birth and upbringing? That man had a good attitude to being an immigrant. He felt at home in both countries, which I hope is the way most people feel.
I will cite another example. At the great reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen, two Irish women were interviewed by RTE as they were getting ready to go to the palace and again afterwards. One, a wonderful woman I know who is involved in the county association and went to Britain in the early 1960s or late 1950s, stated that Britain had been good to her, but that she had also been good to it. She went there as a 17 year old and worked until she was 75 years of age. This is exactly the kind of connection between our two countries that I want to cherish and support. One does not want people going to Britain and feeling that, somehow, they are dependent on the good graces of British employers. I was delighted when President Higgins visited University College Hospital in London and met half a dozen Irish nurses, one of whom was in her 90s. These are people who made a major contribution to the life of Britain. As Irish people living in and representing Ireland, we should be proud of that contribution. I always tell younger people I meet of my hope that, not too far into the future, they will go home and bring skills, ideas and innovations back to Ireland to help the development of our society. I also tell them that, if they decide to stay in the UK, I want them to be connected with and a resource for Ireland. It is for this reason that I host so many events for the Irish in Britain. I want to keep young people connected with our country so that they can make a contribution in future even if they decide to stay in Britain.
The situation is a bit different from how it was previously. I meet people who come home 12 times per year, are on Skype every day to their families, read The Irish Timesfirst thing in the morning and listen to RTE or local radio. As such, it should not be part of our brief to bring people back. Most are quite happy living in Britain, but they want the connection with Ireland. I am not aware of any programme to return people and am not sure that it would be a good idea. If people spend their lives in Britain and have families and contacts there, that should be respected and they should be able to continue living there. For this reason, it is good that the emigrant support programme provides such people with support to enable them to continue connecting with Ireland. We are not replacing British social welfare or the British health system. We are simply giving people an opportunity to access Irish themed or connected services that supplement those to which they are entitled as people who have spent their lives in Britain and are now retired.
I will not discuss the individual issues raised by Senator Daly, but we have contact with the British Government at all levels. There are contacts between my colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who deal with Anglo-Irish relations and their counterparts in Britain. I have contacts with British officials in the Cabinet Office, the Northern Ireland Office, NIO, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO. We have frequent ministerial contacts. The Tánaiste meets the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland frequently. The Taoiseach has regular contact with Prime Minister Cameron through visits and correspondence. A great deal of contact is happening. All of the issues on the agenda at this meeting are being dealt with at the appropriate level, but I do not want to get into the individual issues-----