Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I also thank the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Seamus Brennan, for coming to the House to respond.

I wish to put on record not only my deep appreciation but that of Irish communities, with whom I am in regular contact in the UK and the United States, for the commitment the Minister has shown to the Irish diaspora since he was given this important brief. I received an e-mail today from Mr. Kieran O'Sullivan, who is a leading activist in the Boston Irish community, extolling the virtues of the Minister following his recent visit to Boston. When I told him I was raising an issue concerning the Irish in Britain he asked me to pass on to the Minister the good wishes of the Irish community in Boston and to thank him for the work he is doing. Ministers are criticised on occasion and Members on all sides of both Houses were unfairly criticised recently for travelling abroad to represent their country on St. Patrick's Day so it is important to put on record the appreciation of the Irish community for the work he is doing.

I will not go into details because I have already established dialogue with the Minister on the issue. It is important, however, to emphasise the importance attached by the Irish community in Britain to the extension of free travel to Irish pensioners living there. As the Minister will be aware from his frequent visits to the United Kingdom, free travel, alongside the transmission of RTE television programmes, is the main issue that arises on a regular basis at any gathering of Irish community activists throughout the United Kingdom and was on the agenda of the Federation of Irish Societies at its annual congress last summer.

I am fully aware of the difficulties the Minister has faced in trying to resolve this issue, not only in terms of the financial commitments the Government would need to embark upon but also our Treaty of Rome obligations. It would be difficult to single out a section of people in another member state of the EU purely on grounds of their nationality without extending the benefit across the Union. However, the Minister has been making significant progress in this area over the past 12 months. Notably, he established a dialogue with his opposite number in Northern Ireland under the direct rule Administration and, according to media reports and the excellent press service of his Department, there is an indication that the Minister is close to reaching an agreement on extending the existing free travel arrangements enjoyed by pensioners living in the Republic of Ireland to those living on the entire island. If that is the case, I am sure the Minister will agree that it opens the door, albeit to a small degree, to extend a similar benefit to Irish pensioners living elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

It is on this core issue that I want the Minister to address this Adjournment matter. It has been suggested that the Minister's legal advisers have indicated that the Minister may be able to add free travel as a benefit to existing benefits enjoyed by pensioners without contravening our Treaty of Rome obligations. Will the Minister inform the House on current developments in the extension of free travel to Irish citizens in the United Kingdom and take one of the issues exercising the minds of the Irish diaspora therein off the agenda?