Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I join my colleagues in extending good wishes for St. Patrick's Day to all our people at home and, particularly, to the Irish diaspora throughout the world. I hope our Ministers will enjoy a successful few days abroad as they promote business and tourism in this country. A significant launch by the Taoiseach is linked to that. Yesterday, a significant initiative which is linked to that was launched by the Taoiseach next door. I refer to the Ireland Reaching Out initiative, which was founded in 2010 by a fellow Galwegian, Mr. Mike Feerick, who is a businessman. Under this initiative, local volunteers can use information and communications technology to trace the descendants of individuals who emigrated from their parishes in years gone by. These people are then contacted and invited to visit and become part of the local community. Some 2,500 parishes have signed up for the initiative to date. The potential benefits of this initiative are significant given that this country has a potential diaspora of approximately 70 million throughout the world. I ask all Members of the House to work within their own local parishes to support this initiative, which dovetails nicely with a Government initiative - The Gathering - which is planned for 2013. I hope both initiatives will bring significant economic benefits to this country over the next number of years while linking the people at home with the diaspora throughout the world. I ask the Leader to encourage all Members of the House to support the initiative that was launched yesterday. I hope we will see the benefits of it in 2012 and in subsequent years.