Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Out of respect to the Senator's global reach, which is not just confined to the UK, I wish to state for the record that there is an intensive effort going in to continuing the dialogue and conversation with all our front-line services in America. It also continues at a political level in the US Senate and House of Representatives. The Senator is involved in that effort. He took part in a very important meeting in America on 12 January. Those meetings with the consulates and the embassy are so important. In the context of what we can control in terms of budget, in last year's programme €2.3 million was allocated to the emigrant support service. We support many emigrant support services, be it in San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, New York or whatever part of America, and we need to continue that.

We also need to continue work on our strong relationship with the US. When the Taoiseach travels to the White House on 17 March, it is going to be about that relationship. Foremost in the minds of every politician, including my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, who is in the US this week, is the undocumented. That is a top priority and it will continue to be. It was my priority when I was in San Francisco, New York and Boston. I am going again - the Senator will be joining me- to visit the the east coast and we have to make it a priority because there are people feeling vulnerable at the moment. We have to ensure that the relationship that was always there between Ireland and the United States continues, in a similar vein to the Senator's comments on the relationship with the United Kingdom. They are two separate issues but one and the same in terms of keeping the relationships strong.