Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It confirmed the pipeline of investment into this country from the United States remains exceptionally strong. During the course of the referendum campaign, as the Deputy is well aware, quite a number of chief executives of major multinationals from the United States not only put their money where their mouths were but spoke publicly about the reasons they wanted to invest in this country - because of our demographics, our tax situation and the talent pool that exists here.

Of course no one likes to see anyone leave. When I came back from London a fortnight ago, a young man from the west of Ireland sat in the seat beside me. He is a married man with two children who was in the building business. He left and is now involved in inspections on oil rigs because he went after courses to up-skill himself and said his work now takes him worldwide, with an enormous potential. It is not all bad news. We regret there are those who leave because of economic circumstances and that is all the more reason the Government must focus as a priority on jobs. The American delegation, which comprised Representatives George Miller, Ed Markey, Nick Rahall, Richard Neal - well known to Ireland - Carolyn Maloney, Mike Doyle and Keith Ellison, was intrigued by the scale of reputation our country has in the US as a place in which to invest and work and the reputation of our people to interact with, and I was happy about that.

The question of the undocumented Irish was raised. Clearly, the situation is not easy in the legislative sense in the US, given the paralysis that exists on Capitol Hill, although I note the decision of President Obama last week in respect of illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children and who are aged under 30 not being deported anymore. That will impact principally on the Hispanic vote. I understand the number of undocumented Irish who would be affected by this measure is small but that is no reason to believe the ongoing work in respect of E3 visas should not be brought to a conclusion.

I referred to the impact of the Global Irish Economic Forum internationally and Ms Pelosi, as former Speaker and leader of the CODEL delegation, was enthusiastic about the prospect of Ireland emerging from the programme and being seen to be a success story in a difficult time for Europe.

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