Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Molaim an dream atá ag eagrú an Hands Up for Children campaign, feachtas atá á sheol maidin inniu. It would be useful if we could have a debate at some stage on the call by the Hands Up for Children campaign to realign child and family services so that the focus is on prevention rather than address of crises as they arise.

I note that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has stated that his taxation measures will encourage emigrants to return home. This is very questionable given the number of new graduates emigrating is higher now than it was at any time in the previous six years. It is also worth noting that emigrants have identified four key barriers to their return, including poor infrastructure, precarious working conditions and low pay, lack of career opportunities and progression and a lack of affordable housing. I did not hear anything in yesterday's statement that addresses any of these barriers in a meaningful way. The Government's employment targets do not include any provision for returning emigrants and seem to assume that Ireland's labour force will not increase. Fine Gael and the Labour Party have since coming into government deepened economic and income inequality in Ireland and they are now creating a division in Irish society that will take decades to overcome.

In the context of the Government's spring statement, the Seanad should have a debate around encouraging emigrants to return home and what practical, economic, social and other measures and policies that need to be adopted by Government to make that a reality. I know from my recent engagement in Britain with organisations that work with people who want to return in their later years that those people are experiencing difficulty in their engagement with the Department of Social Protection in terms of having their years abroad recognised by the system here. A debate on issues such as employment, employability and emigrants wanting to return home and the real barriers in this regard is an important debate that we need to have. There is no point in setting out targets when there are barriers in place that prevent people from returning in the first instance.