Billy Lawless (Independent)
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I am delighted to hear from the Minister that the Government supports the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel. I would like to let him know, however, that there was a meeting held here last week by Senator Black for the Irish Friends of Palestine. It was a meeting to which she invited all of us and I attended along with three or four other Senators to observe. Within hours the American Friends of Israel were on to my assistant in Chicago asking why I was at the meeting, if I was a member of the Friends of Palestine and if he would please explain my presence. It is outrageous that a member of the Seanad is questioned about going to a meeting set up by one of his colleagues to be informed about the situation. I would like to bring that to the Minister's attention.

On the issue of the terrible atrocities, and this may not be in the Minister's remit, but my brother has been in Dubai for the past 25 years and is very involved with government circles over there. He tells me that every week all the imams' speeches have to be handed in to the government for scrutiny to ensure that there is no radicalisation preached in their sermons and that there is full access to attend. In view of what is happening in Europe and the terrible atrocity that happened in Manchester in the last number of days, these attacks are the work of radicalised individuals, born in the very countries they target. We need to be on the alert here and bring out some measures that will protect our own people.

The Minister knows of my involvement with the undocumented Irish. Are there any plans in this regard? We have to think outside the box because we know that there will be no immigration reform in the United States this year. About two months ago President Trump had a bipartisan meeting with Senators from both parties. He said he would look favourably towards the Senate Bill that was passed in 2013, which gave us 10,500 non-immigrant visas in perpetuity. This was a real coup for us. There was no objection at that time to the granting of those. Of course it never got to the House. Should we go down an avenue where we would give reciprocal visas to US citizens who want to come to work here, especially now in light of Brexit and American companies hoping to locate here? I would like to see if there are any plans to do that or if it is an avenue worth opening in Europe.