Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and also welcome him as the first Minister in this country with specific responsibility for the diaspora. It shows the commitment this Government has to the diaspora and the future of our relationship with the diaspora.

I will start by quoting from a document I will be bringing to the Minister of State's attention. This is an information memorandum on the idea of an international diaspora centre to be based at the Carlisle Pier at Dún Laoghaire Harbour in Dublin. This memorandum points to the fact that the dispersal of the Irish throughout the world, and their contribution to the economies and cultures of those lands, is one of the defining moments of our nation, past and present. The Irish diaspora, or scattering, is estimated to be in excess of 70 million people and is the largest in the world. It exceeds the Greek, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Jewish and other diaspora. The document goes on to list a number of the better known of the Irish diaspora. These include John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, William Brown, Bernardo O'Higgins, Paul Keating, Brian Mulrooney, Ernest Walton, who is an Irish physicist for those who may not be into sciences, Grace Kelly, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Eugene O'Neill and others. I, on the other hand, want to mention the diaspora who never reach those elevated heights.

When I was studying economics in UCD in the years between 1977 and 1980 something, Irish emigrants in the United Kingdom had the worst health record of any group of emigrants in the United Kingdom. This continues to this day and is something we must bear in mind when we talk about the welfare of our emigrants abroad.

I welcome the focus on the mental health of emigrants and the support available to better equip those who are leaving the country. I also note the Crosscare research. I welcome the convening of an inter-departmental committee on the Irish abroad. I also welcome the idea that local authorities, in particular, should be involved in identifying and connecting with the diaspora abroad. We all welcome the importance of improving communications and connectivity with the Irish diaspora.

Like Senator Ó Clochartaigh, I also wish to highlight the issue of what we mean by representation. I was also a member of the Constitutional Convention and I am aware of its recommendations on Irish emigrants and our diaspora in the election of our President. I do not believe this goes far enough. A number of organisations representing the Irish abroad think it does not go far enough either. I had the pleasure of meeting representatives from Votes for Irish Citizens Abroad, VICA, and I know the comments of the organisation Irish in Britain. These organisations are clear on the fact that they want rights to be given to the Irish diaspora to vote in Irish elections.

I want to bring to the Minister of State's attention a recent report by the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. It is an important report and one which goes further than the Constitutional Convention. It states, for example, that Ireland is among a minority of EU member states which have not extended voting rights to citizens abroad. This debate took place in the context of our obligations as members of the European Union. However, the recommendations of the committee go beyond this. The electoral systems of other countries have been amended to accommodate the diaspora. While electoral systems remain part of our national competence, there is a consensus that the restriction placed on the voting rights of our citizens abroad within the European Union may be challenged in the European Court of Justice. We have a large diaspora yet our definition of citizenship does not take into account the rights of our citizens abroad. It does not allow for a right to vote within certain periods of time, reserved constituencies and so on.

I am not just talking about the Presidency. I know that Senator Ó Murchú mentioned the Seanad. There is nothing particularly unusual about other countries giving their diaspora representation. I wish to bring to the attention of the Minister of State the final findings and recommendations of the joint committee. These were that the Government should accept the principle that voting rights should be extended to Irish citizens abroad, and not just Irish citizens within the EU, and that the Government should proceed to design a system which would be workable in an Irish context. It also recommended that an electoral commission should be established to implement the recommendations of the joint committee's report. Will the Minister of State, given his position, try to forward that particular agenda? This is important. I know from the people I have met that there is very little point in making empty promises when what people actually want is representation in the affairs of their country. I note that in the document on the global Irish that was referred to there is no reference to the establishment of an international diaspora centre. I intend to make a pitch for the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company's proposal that such a centre be located at Carlisle Pier. There is no more iconic location in Ireland than Dún Laoghaire Harbour, it being the last view of the country for so many who left on the mail boat, particularly those who went to Britain. It would be a most suitable location in which to honour the diaspora.

The final issue I wish to raise relates to the representations to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality made by a delegation of mixed race Irish people who were victims of institutional abuse, many of whom now live outside the jurisdiction. We have a very poor record in acknowledging the severe prejudice experienced by mixed race Irish people in institutions here and the particular type of abuse they suffered. These are members of the diaspora who suffered terrible abuse in this country. I ask the Minister of State, as part of his responsibility for the diaspora, to take on board their particular circumstances.