Dr. Deirdre Giblin:

I will just take the Deputy’s question about Ireland and Canada. Canada is much more attractive to the Irish of a certain age, with Ireland being attractive to Canada being made up of older people and students. We were definitely finding that when we were on our latest trade mission, in Vancouver in particular, When we walked into a meeting with the Irish chamber in Vancouver, we expected to see people of our age group but we saw people between the ages of 25 and 35. We were delighted because these people were there probably two, three or four years, are used to it now, and every one of them is climbing their careers. They very much want to reinvigorate a chamber that had probably just gone a bit dormant for a while. It was very exciting for us to see that the chamber represents the Irish who are out there now, not the Irish who went 20 or 25 years ago. There was nothing wrong with that cohort either but it was just great to see that.

On the Canadians coming to Ireland; there are many agreements between universities and colleges. That will definitely expand but we are still in a situation where the traffic is more or less going towards Canada, and Vancouver seems to be the place where the majority are going. Perhaps Ms Gilna or Mr. Doyle-Kelly may wish to add to that.