Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We will forgive him. Even I will forgive him.

Following a very successful Yeats day in Sligo last Thursday, I thank Senators for their good wishes. In advance of the visit of Prime Minister Abe of Japan to Dublin tomorrow and to cement the links between Ireland and Japan which promise enormous economic, tourism and cultural benefits, I thank Ambassador John Neary who will host a Yeats' day event in Tokyo on Saturday for a wide group of people. I will have the pleasure of speaking at the symposium with the ambassador. Cultural and international links are being built. I ask that at some point we have a discussion on whether we can invite other people to come to Ireland. We can ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, to invite others to come to Ireland to enjoy a variety of activities. We are very good at inviting journalists from other countries to come to Ireland and write articles in their newspapers. Perhaps we might short-list four or five interesting people from across the world to come to Ireland to enjoy our company, beautiful sites, culture and so on. There have been calls for another debate on that issue. I, again, thank Members for their good wishes. We had a great day and celebrated Yeats in style.