Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

I will try not to be too much longer. I was talking about the Global Irish Economic Forum.

Overall, the forum was a very considerable success in terms of the high level of engagement and its substantive outcomes, and it clearly demonstrated the huge level of support and goodwill that Ireland can call upon from among the very highest levels of the international business and cultural communities.

We intend to publish a full report of the forum shortly, but among those key themes to emerge were ideas such as: a world actors forum to be held in Ireland; Mr. Gabriel Byrne was at the forum; a more business friendly visa system, which I have already addressed; a new network of networks; extending the cultural ambassador model to areas such as sport; specific proposals relating to foreign direct investment, the green economy and innovation; and offers of support from the Global Irish Network members for mentoring and other assistance to Irish exporters.

In addition to the formal outcomes, a range of initiatives were also announced during the forum. The announcement by former US President, Mr. Bill Clinton, of his intention to convene a tightly focused meeting in the US with very senior US business executives is very welcome. Likewise, in response to an invitation from the Tánaiste, a significant number of participants also signed up to be Advocates for Ireland and to undertake tasks such as assisting Irish companies abroad and investing in post forum projects. That means financially investing in post forum projects. All participants, and the Government, were in agreement that the event itself was extremely successful and well run, but that its ultimate success will be judged on the implementation of its outcomes.

The Government is deeply conscious of the need to have a robust and inclusive follow-up process, which fully involves the diaspora in the active implementation of initiatives. To this end, the new advisory and implementation group will be co-chaired by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and will include representatives from the Global Irish Network from each of the main geographic areas.

I thank all of the participants in today's debate. Because there will not be much time for questions, I reiterate that I will be happy to respond to questions which are not reached on the floor of the House.