Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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Could we have order for the Adjournment debate, please? I ask Members to continue their conversations outside the Chamber and to allow some time for the Adjournment.

Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I would like to take this opportunity to invite a member of President Obama's visiting party to County Cork to visit the ancestral home of an Irishman who exerted considerable influence on the formative years of the United States of America, that is, Edmund Burke. If Burke's vision of co-operation and trade had been embraced and implemented earlier, it would have dramatically changed the course of American and world history. We might be living in a different world today. However, Burke's early recognition of America's great potential as a market of singular global importance marks one of the earliest and most significant political connections between Ireland and America.

Killavullen in north County Cork is the ancestral home of Edmund Burke, one of the greatest political writers and orators of his or any other time. He intervened passionately on behalf of the American colonists in the 18th century in an attempt to avert war.

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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I apologise, but I must ask Deputies to afford the Deputy moving the Adjournment silence, please.

Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Edmund Burke wrote: "Politics ought to be adjusted, not to human reasonings, but to human nature; of which the reason is but a part, and by no means the greatest part".

Edmund's mother was Mary Nagle, whose people, a large extended family, were the leading Catholics in what is still known as Nagle country in the Blackwater Valley. The poet Edmund Spenser was married to a member of the family and it was to Nagle country that Edmund Burke was sent from Dublin at the age of six years to live with his uncle Patrick Nagle in Ballyduff at the foot of the Nagle Mountains. According to local tradition, he was returning to the place of his birth.

It is said that Edmund was sent to Cork for the sake of his health, as Dublin was an unhealthy place in the 18th century. However, it is probable that the opportunity to receive a Catholic education was of as much, if not more, importance. The penal laws of the time prohibited and penalised Catholic education, the presence of Catholic priests and attendance at mass, but while the code was strongly enforced in Dublin, places like Ballyduff in the parish of Killavullen in the 1730s were openly Catholic. Edmund attended a hedge school under the walls of the ruined castle of Monanimy, formerly a Nagle stronghold. The Blackwater Valley was and is one of the most beautiful regions in Ireland and is where Edmund Spenser drew inspiration for the landscape of The Faerie Queene. Burke stayed in north Cork until the age of 11 years, immersed in a culture far removed from that of Dublin and the Pale.

Elected to the British Parliament in December 1765, out of public necessity Burke played down both his Irishness and his Catholic associations. His political ideology, inspired by his experiences in Ireland, were to extend out into the world and, particularly, to America. He abhorred slavery and argued against seating representative Americans in the British Parliament on the grounds that this would mean the seating of slave-owners. The cry of "no taxation without representation" had been raised as part of American resistance to the Stamp Act, and allowing American representation in the British Parliament was one proposed solution. Historians claim a distinct link between his views on slavery and his formative years in an Irish Catholic hedge school pursing a forbidden education. As a respected parliamentarian, Burke tried during the early phases of pre-revolution in the American colonies to persuade the English not to provoke the Americans into rebellion by taxation, but rather to extend their rights and independence. Burke's repeated warnings were not heeded and the war that ensued was, in Burke's mind, a civil war.

The Blackwater Valley region in north County Cork has very strong connections with North America, going back to the first ever European settlement on the Continent. The settlement was organised by Sir Walter Raleigh, who owned land in the Blackwater Valley. On 9 April 1585, Sir Richard Grenville, landlord of Fermoy and a first cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh, set sail for America with 100 colonists in seven vessels. Among the organisers on board was the artist and cartographer John White, who had previously lived at Newtown, Doneraile. John White's watercolour drawings are of great significance in American history as they gave detailed visual information about the native North Americans and how they lived, along with excellent detail of the flora and fauna of the region. John White's granddaughter Virginia Dore, the daughter of John's daughter Eleanor Dore, was the first recorded European born on American soil, on 18 August 1587. Although much of White's work has been lost, a number of drawings were retained.

The potential for literary and cultural tourism in this country is enormous, and Edmund Burke is a pivotal figure in this respect. This is good for Ireland and complements the recent jobs initiative. I formally invite any member of the American visiting party to Edmund Burke's ancestral home. If time prevents this, I would be obliged if the Minister would be so good as to inform the President and his party of this unique link and association between our two nations.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The visit of President Obama, similarly to the visit of Queen Elizabeth, offers unparalleled opportunities to showcase Ireland on the international stage. These historic visits provide us with a significant opportunity to focus on economic, trade, investment and tourism opportunities with Britain and the US, our two most important economic partners. Naturally, there will be a high level of international media interest, which will provide an opportunity to put out a positive and forward-looking message that Ireland is open for business.

The Government, in consultation with State agencies, will fully maximise the opportunities that the visits and media attention provide to promote Ireland's economic recovery. As I speak, Tourism Ireland has extensive promotional programmes in place throughout Britain, America and other markets. The Irish-US economic relationship is mutually beneficial and is stronger now than at any other time in our history. Some 95,000 Irish people are employed by US companies using Ireland as a gateway to 500 million European consumers, and Irish companies in turn employ 82,000 Americans across all 50 states. US investment in Ireland stands at $165 billion, which is greater than US investment in Brazil, China, India and Russia combined. World business leaders such as Microsoft, Google, Intel and Facebook recognise Ireland as a pre-eminent location for fresh thinking and a global hub for innovation. Ireland is still regarded as a good place to invest and we have many strategic advantages to attract global investors in the long term.

Our partnership with the US in the fight against global poverty and hunger is important to us, and we regard it as a central element in our foreign policy and Ireland's role in the world. We are also working closely with the US in the area of collaborative research and development among researchers and industry to generate innovation in the marketplace and lead to improvements in health care, disease prevention and technological innovation. Our bilateral relationship is innovative and far-reaching, and the opportunity to highlight these connections during the President's visit has tremendous promotional value for Ireland and the potential to benefit Irish society as a whole.

In March, when President Obama announced his intention to visit Ireland this year, he characterised the visit as a significant statement of confidence in Ireland. The forthcoming visit will shine a much-needed light on the many positive qualities that have made Ireland renowned throughout the world - our youth and resilience, our ingenuity and ability. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our people over many generations and across many continents, including those who, like Edmund Burke, foresaw and contributed to the success that America would achieve as a nation.

Yesterday the Taoiseach outlined the details of President Obama's visit to this House and advised Members that arrangements for the President's visit are close to being finalised, with a number of senior officials travelling to Dublin in the coming days to agree the final details. The programme will include a visit to Moneygall, and President Obama is expected to give a public address in Dublin. This event is intended as a public welcome to the President and First Lady.

In view of the short duration of his visit, I understand there are no plans, with the exception of his visit to Moneygall, for President Obama to travel outside Dublin on this occasion. As Deputies will appreciate, there have been many attractive and generous invitations issued for consideration by the President, but unfortunately it has simply not been possible to accommodate them. I listened to the statement made by the Deputy and acknowledge the significance of Edmund Burke. I will convey to the visiting party the statement that was made here this evening in the hope that, if not on this occasion then perhaps on a future occasion, there may be suitable recognition of the work and significance of Edmund Burke.

I know that people from all across Ireland will come to hear the President make his address. The President's visit is an historic opportunity to put Ireland and our people on view before an international audience. It is an opportunity to show Ireland at its very best, to focus on our trademark tradition of warm hospitality, and to celebrate our rich and diverse cultural heritage. The economic benefits will extend across the Irish economy, far beyond the few locations the President will visit in person. We hope the images of President Obama in Ireland will encourage other visitors to follow in his footsteps. Together, the visits of the US President and Queen Elizabeth will showcase Ireland to a huge audience of potential visitors in Britain, the US and across the globe, and have the potential to deliver a major boost to Irish tourism in 2011 and beyond.