Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

That is pretty catastrophic. That is not casual tourism or people heading off for a jaunt, and the Taoiseach should recognise that in his commentary.

Will the Taoiseach be more specific about the issues I raised? What is he doing in respect of the undocumented Irish? I acknowledge others are active on this matter but what initiatives is he taking and what contacts does he have? Where does he see this going?

With regard to the interest and support from Irish America, I appreciate his comments about general goodwill, a supportive view in respect of the North and positivity in wanting to help economically, but what concretely are the asks?

I had a meeting with the Taoiseach recently about the constitutional convention. We have underlined to him many times, and he shares our understanding, that the relationship with the diaspora has not been leveraged to its maximum historically to be of benefit to the State. I am anxious this would happen and, therefore, I made the argument to him that the global Irish community has to be given a stake in the constitutional convention and its outcomes. Will he be more concrete? I understand he has had general conversations but what are his specific asks? What specifically is he doing on the undocumented Irish?

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