Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Maybe that could be divided into three different reviews of the various elements.

With regard to the call for another consultative report with reference to issues of complexity, this is something we have had ample time to analyse and consider, and I am sure it was debated during the period of negotiation, consultation and engagement with the diaspora and its representatives abroad since the Minister of State came into office.

When the economic crisis began to pinch, we were quick to look to the diaspora for a helping hand through The Gathering and the Global Irish Economic Forum, which was of major benefit to all concerned, including the tourist, industrial and scientific sectors and many others. We are happy, as usual, to wear the green and shuffle up to Irish communities around the world on St. Patrick's Day for the access it gives us to political and business leaders around the world. We acknowledge and pay tribute to that, and we milk it for all it is worth, to the envy of many of our competitors throughout the world.

We have tried to engage more with Irish abroad by creating a new role for the Minister of State, that of responsibility for the diaspora, which has to be seen as more than an optical illusion. In order to gain the trust, support and commitment of the Irish diaspora, there must be a better effort to allow for those who wish to be eligible to vote in a presidential election to be facilitated. I acknowledge that the Government does not oppose the Bill, which leads one to believe that there is an intention to follow through on the commitments it made in this regard. It is important that concrete measures be put in place to adjudicate on that commitment.

In his first trip to New York last November in his current role, the Minister of State told an Irish-American audience that the right to vote in presidential elections would be confirmed by the start of 2015. He said he saw no reason the vote could not be extended to Seanad elections and that the diaspora might eventually be allowed to vote in Dáil elections.

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