Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I agree with the comments of and the request by Senator Leyden for a debate on undocumented Irish people in the United States. This was a major political issue ten or 14 years ago and was apparently resolved for a few years. There are many indications that the problem has returned to cause grave difficulty for a large number of Irish people in the United States. At a time when the American authorities are examining ways to resolve the undocumented situation in the case of Mexicans and others, we should use our political influence to try to bring some degree of redress to a sizeable number of Irish people in the United States.

Both the Leader and I spoke on a related issue at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday afternoon. The position of elderly Irish people in Britain was the subject of an excellent "Prime Time" television programme before Christmas which showed very clearly and sadly the significant social, economic and health problems faced by a very sizeable number of elderly Irish people in London and throughout Britain. These are people who went to work in Britain in the period from the 1940s to the 1960s. They often have no social insurance records or entitlements and live in very poor economic circumstances. The Oireachtas has a duty to try to respond to the problems faced by those people. It would be helpful to initiate a debate on the subject.

Some time ago I asked for a debate on the future of agriculture and the long-term strategy for Irish agriculture. I am pleased that the Minister has put in place a forum to be chaired by a former colleague, Mr. Alan Dukes, but there should be a political input and this House is an ideal forum to debate a long-term strategy to keep the farmers of Ireland farming and to give young people in agriculture some hope that they will have a future there.