Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade
Business of Joint Committee
2:00 am
Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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Some colleagues have referred to making it easy for people to come home. If I understand the Minister of State's brief correctly, and maybe he will clarify it, his role is more about liaising with the existing diaspora, making things better, working with them and alleviating difficulty than specifically trying to coax them home.
Does the Minister of State have a role in that because Ireland has a deficit of construction workers, nurses and carers? There is not a day in my constituency office that we do not have a family coming to us saying they have been allotted care hours and they cannot get a carer. The HSE cannot get them one. Ireland needs these people. Does it fall under the Minister of State’s remit to get these people home? If it does not, does he detect that enough is being done in this area? If it does, what more does he propose to do?