Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for those remarks. I would agree very much with what he is saying. The thrust of my work since I became a Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora has been to strengthen and deepen the ties with our diaspora. There is a need for that recognition that the Deputy talked about that it is very much a two-way street. We must deepen and strengthen ties with our diaspora but we must also be willing and open to bringing our diaspora back and to recognising that there is a large percentage of people who want to come to Ireland for many reasons, to study, work or live, who are part of that diaspora. We have benefited greatly from our diaspora. I do not think there is another country in the world with a comparable diaspora to that which we have and that has enjoyed the benefits of its diaspora in the way we have.

It is very welcome that the changing situation in respect of Covid-19 and the pandemic will ensure that we will have an opportunity for a really strong engagement starting with St. Patrick's Day and the engagement right across that day not just with the US authorities but with the diaspora and with civil society in the US. We are going to be building on that. I will be in the US on a number of occasions throughout the year to strengthen and deepen those ties with our diaspora group. It is critical for that in terms of the new diaspora strategy that I mentioned earlier in my opening remarks, that is all about recognising the deepening of our ties, reaching out to elements of the diaspora that we have not engaged with in the past and particularly that facilitation of people, be they Irish born or part of our greater affinity diaspora, who want to engage with Ireland in terms of being able to come here and experience what Ireland is all about. We will very much be working in that area. I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter.

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