Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State mentioned ministerial visits and Deputy Deasy has been there twice. I hope he is being given the resources to back up his efforts. One glaring issue we need to deal with is consistent engagement between the Oireachtas and the House of Representatives and the Senate in the United States. This was a criticism levelled at us a number of years ago. The last time the foreign affairs committee went to Washington DC was six years ago. There is a peer to peer gap with regard to building up the Irish caucus in the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is not something that can be done purely by diplomats or our embassy. It is always done better between peers, namely, the elected members of two sovereign parliaments. Not enough of this is happening. It cannot just be left to Ministers. It needs a concerted effort by the Dáil and the Seanad to look at how we can keep this at the top of the US legislators' agenda also.

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