Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

Perhaps I am interfering with Seanad protocol, but will the Leader request the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to initiate a debate in the Chamber, which would include our international diaspora, by way of tele-conferencing? I am calling for such a debate in light of the fact that local authority members and Members of the Oireachtas regularly visit Irish communities in America, Australia and elsewhere. We should examine the possibility of economic opportunities, harnessing the Irish diaspora around the world by using electronic methods to link up the participants in such a debate. Tele-conferencing could bring together members of the diaspora from as far apart as Dubai, Australia, Thailand, America, London and other places where Irish communities exist. I am encouraged by the board mindedness of debates in the House and we should promote that as much as possible.