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

That should be expedited because access to health insurance is a big issue for people, particularly those with young families. I have had to write to the VHI, the country's largest insurer, regarding specific cases and I have sent examples to the Department. I would welcome the statutory instrument. Perhaps the Minister of State can advise on the timeframe for its introduction. There would be broad support in the House for that. I do not see much evidence of the protocol agreed with the insurance industry. That needs to be republished. It would be handy for us if that happened because we could advise people through our clinics that it exists in order that they might be armed with the necessary information when they approach insurance companies.

I commend all our embassy and consular staff throughout the world. I have had the pleasure of dealing with many different embassies and consular services. For example, Deputy Ó Broin and I visited Egypt last year and we witnessed embassy staff working in difficult circumstances in Cairo, including the former ambassador, Mr. Cole, and his successor, Mr. O'Regan. These officials do an exceptional job but they are not taken for granted. I had the same experience when I visited Chicago and Washington last December. That is the case across the board and it needs to be recognised. They are an absolute credit to the country - they are our front-line abroad. They are our representatives and they reflect what Ireland is at for people abroad.

We have a massive diaspora of up to 70 million and it is a major resource for us. However, this is a two-way street. The emigrant support programme has funded the Irish American Heritage Centre in Chicago, which I visited. People who are fourth and fifth generation Irish run the centre and some of them have never set foot in Ireland but they rightly see themselves as Irish and they are proud of their heritage. We need to monitor the position in America in particular. Fewer people are emigrating there and we need to ensure that we do not lose our foothold and the connection between Ireland and Irish America. That is why it is important to keep second, third, fourth and fifth generation people in tune with Irish heritage through our language, culture, networking, and social occasions. The GAA has been successful and useful. There are GAA clubs everywhere you go. I understand, from the Irish ambassador to Portugal, Ms Orla Tunney, that a club is being established in Lisbon. That is important because it maintains a connection with home.

The Minister of State referred to the emigrant support programme being sustained through the difficult times but its budget has not increased in recent years. It has remained at €11.5 million. In the context of the Department's budget, that is a small amount. I visited the London Irish Centre in Camden last month. The centre is supported by the programme and I saw the good work that is being done with little funding. The programme's budget should be increased substantially. It is tiny relative to the overall departmental budget. We can do much more and this should be a priority for Government. As each party examines its foreign affairs policy, it should examine the benefit of the programme and the good work it does with small allocations. A sum of €11.5 million is not a lot. Fianna Fáil will support the Minister of State in seeking a substantial increase in the budget. He said the programme is over-subscribed, which means we are saying to Irish organisations abroad that they cannot be provided with funding this year. I acknowledge that not every application will be successful but there is headroom there.

With regard to voting rights for the diaspora, Fianna Fáil supports their extension to Irish citizens abroad in presidential elections in principle but this requires detailed scrutiny of the practical, legal and policy implications involved. The Minister of State and the Taoiseach will be in US and I ask that the issue of the undocumented Irish again be raised in the context of an overall conversation. That cannot be our only conversation piece. Our relationship with America is important but it is a partnership. I acknowledge there are difficulties and we have many differences with the current administration on policy issues but I agree with the Taoiseach's comment yesterday that the relationship between the countries will endure through different administrations, different taoisigh and different presidents. We have to be level headed and practical in our approach. We are the tenth largest investor in the US and it is the number one investor here. Irish companies employ more than 120,000 people in the US. I had the pleasure of meeting those engaged in food research in the American mid-west last December. They worked for good Irish start-ups that were investing and employing American and Irish people. Our relationship with the US is strong, deep and important and we should tread carefully with it. The Minister of State and other Ministers travelling there next week should use the opportunity to strengthen ties with the Irish community abroad and our friends in America such as the Friends of Ireland group in Congress whom I had the pleasure of meeting again when I visited Washington. I briefed Congressmen Neal and Boyle and approximately 20 other Congressmen who turned up that day on Brexit. We should utilise the influence that our friends in the US Congress have because they are ready, willing and able to use it. They have never been found wanting in providing assistance to this country. Many other countries view us jealously given the access we have and the friends we have in Congress. I thank Congressmen Neal, Boyle, Crowley and others for all the assistance they have given us over the years.

The Indecon report is important and we need to agree actions on it. It should not take an inordinate time to address these issues. Practical steps are needed. The support programmes are great for returning emigrants who wish to start up businesses and so on but let us deal with the financial services, health and driver's licence issues and the other practical issues the survey highlighted. It was a detailed survey of more than 1,000 returning emigrants but it makes for stark reading. It points out clearly where services need to be improved for returning emigrants in order that they know there is a céad míle fáilte and a fáilte ar ais for them.

I wish the Minister of State well in his trip and in the work and his endeavours next week and genuinely commend him on the work he has done as Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. I encourage him - I will say this at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence meeting later on - to look at increasing substantially the emigrant support programme.

See this speech in context