Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It might not just be germane to the proceedings.

I welcome the Minister of State to this important discussion and brief. I had another meeting to do with staffing in the House earlier, which is of mutual interest to us all, so I could not leave that. However, this is a critical discussion.

The Minister of State said this year the Department is allocating €16.5 million to diaspora support.

I would be very interested to hear him speak about comparable figures for previous years and the increase it represents. There is universal support for this throughout the country. It is marvellous that none of us, as practising politicians, ever encounter at the doors or elsewhere any opposition to this. I have never yet heard a person say we should not provide this funding.

I am interested to hear about support for elderly immigrants. As a member, and as chair, of the local authority I used to go to London and the various association functions in England and America. I am sure the Minister of State came across when he was there. There is an older cohort from the 1950s and older emigrants who worked in construction, who are very different from the people going there now, and they are in a difficult position. When I was on Cavan County Council, we had a programme whereby we provided some housing for returning emigrants. Is the Minister of State aware of any initiative in this area? Is he liaising with local authorities? It should be encouraged. We had a nice development. Fr. Boylan, a priest from Kilnaleck, County Cavan, worked with the Irish communities in London and pioneered this initiative with our county manager. We had traditional old people dwellings in the village of Kilnaleck for older people who had come home from England. It was a marvellous initiative and it worked. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's response to this. Does he see potential in this? Is he aware of much happening in this regard? Is it nationwide? Does the Minister of State sense from his experience among the emigrant communities a desire to come home and benefit from this?

The total budget for Irish Aid is €810 million. I noticed throughout the Minister of State's address a focus on women and pregnancy. This is extremely worthy and I certainly support it. I presume breastfeeding is important in this. I know from my wife's work in this sphere that breastfeeding programmes and parenting programmes are important in this context.

The Minister of State said we are supporting the AIDS programme in South Africa. There is a popular concept here that HIV and AIDS are in the past tense. Will the Minister of State comment on the degree to which the problem still exists?

The Minister of State used a phrase relating to drawing on our emigrants. This is something I would encourage. There is a construction group in London that the Minister of State might have come across. It is headed by Mr. Frank O'Hare. There is tremendous potential for liaising with our emigrant communities particularly, as I mention construction, in the context of our housing issues. Attempts to bring home construction people are one thing, but we can also learn from them.

We will discuss the broader issues of Gaza in the Seanad on Thursday. I will park those broader issues until then and, in the context of the Minister State's brief, concentrate on the issue of getting aid into Gaza. He may have commented on this already in answer to other questions. If he has, I do not want to bring him back to it. I would be interested to hear what the Minister of State has to say on where we are at with aid. Does he see prospects for it? Is he actively involved in the process and in trying to assist with it? As a matter of interest, is he aware of whether many Irish people are working or involved in aid work in Gaza?

These are a few general points. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State.