Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I welcome what the Taoiseach has said and I also agree with the context in which he has put the matter. The Taoiseach will be aware that I have raised the matter on behalf of my party and that Deputy Stagg has pursued it over a period. At the outset of this Dáil we devoted our Private Members' business to the question of emigrants living outside the State, mainly in the British cities. To my surprise it was the first time in the history of Dáil Éireann that we had such a debate. All sides of the House were supportive of the case we sought to make. Does the Taoiseach not agree that this is probably the least important of the proposals we made and the least important of the proposals in the joint document published by Labour and Fine Gael in terms of our emigrants. While this was one of the proposals, it was not the most important. Does the Taoiseach intend to address any of the other issues on that agenda? Will the State locate those people living, for example, in Britain? Will the State proactively seek to establish who is entitled to the bounty?

While doing little things that are meaningful, will the Taoiseach cause the national broadcaster to renew the service to Irish emigrants living in cities in Britain, especially those in London, who have made representations for the restoration of that service? While it is a small step, we seem unable to restore that service. Has RTE made the decision for reasons of finance——

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