Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome the opportunity to speak about the diaspora today, which is a timely date in the lead up to the St. Patrick's weekend. I very much welcome the announcements made by the Minister of State. In particular, I welcome his announcement that there will be an increase of €1 million in the allocation for the emigrant support programme in 2019. That is really good to see. I agree with him when he said that the emigrant support programme is the most tangible expression of Ireland's care for and value of our diaspora. I also very much welcome the new diaspora policy and the engagement, which he has described, that will be carried on this year in terms of developing the new diaspora policy.

As other Senators have done, I commend our colleague, Senator Lawless, for all the work that he has done to highlight the importance of the Irish diaspora. I also commend him for working, in a practical sense, to ensure that recognition is given to the undocumented Irish in the US. He is continuing that work.

I shall speak on three aspects of diaspora relations. I speak as somebody who is one of six Members of the Oireachtas elected, in part, by members of the diaspora. I refer to the university Senators, both Dublin University and the National University of Ireland. We are unique among the other Members of the Oireachtas because our electorate includes Irish citizens living abroad and people who are resident in countries outside Ireland. I have looked at the Seanad register for Trinity and I saw that among the 50,000 voters there are voters from as far away as the Pacific islands and lots in Australia, New Zealand and so on, all of whom are entitled to vote. That is a really important part of our electorate. It is important that any of us who are university Senators acknowledge that role and the fact that it is not unknown to our political system to have diaspora votes.

I shall talk as somebody who represents members of the diaspora and as somebody who has lived abroad. I spent three years living abroad in London where I was very active in different groups, including the Irish Women's Abortion Support Group. For many years, the group provided practical help and assistance to the thousands of Irish women who had to leave Ireland, for so many years, to access reproductive health services abroad. Thankfully, now that we have changed our own law through the repeal of the eighth amendment last year, that route is no longer necessary for most women. The IWAS Group that I was part of in London, along with my colleague, Senator Kelleher, played a really important role over many years. Many of the members of our group were themselves second generation Irish. Senator Conway-Walsh talked about generational emigration. That second generation has grown up Irish in London and has a dual identity of being from London but also from Ireland. They were very active in other Irish emigrant groups abroad as well, including the Irish centres, Irish music and Irish cultural groups. Therefore, I have a particular interest in the diaspora.

I shall first talk about votes for the diaspora, which the Minister of State has addressed a little. I shall also talk about the changing relationship that we have with our diaspora. Finally, I shall say just a word about Irish Aid, which is the other side of the diaspora issue where we talk about Ireland reaching out, our contribution to overseas development aid and the launch last week of a policy entitled A Better World, which I welcomed in this House. I could not get to the launch but I was in this House welcoming the policy on the same morning.I very much welcome the announcement that there will be a referendum. I had thought that it was to be held in May but the Taoiseach has stated that it will now take place in October. It is good that the question of extending voting rights in presidential elections to Irish citizens outside the State is being put to the people. I welcome this and will be happy to campaign in support of the proposal. I hope it will pass. In 2013, I was proud to lead the Labour Party delegation at the Constitutional Convention, which recommended by 78% majority, that we would extend voter rights in presidential elections to Irish citizens resident abroad. All of us who participated in the convention found it an extremely moving experience to hear from members of the diaspora who gave testimony, broadcast to the convention at the Grand Hotel in Malahide. Some had got up in the middle of the night to do so. They spoke very powerfully, eloquently and movingly about why they would seek the right to vote in presidential elections and how connected they felt to their country of origin. Some had only left Ireland a few years previously, others had been away a long time and some were Irish citizens who might have had very little physical connection to the country but who had a very strong emotional and mental connection and one of identity. I am glad that the referendum will be held in October and I hope it will pass so that Irish citizens resident abroad will be able to vote in the next presidential election in six years' time.

I also wish to mention the changing relationship. It is now some years since Mary Robinson, on her election as President - the first woman to hold the position - in 1990, placed major emphasis on the connection with the diaspora and famously lit a candle in the window of Áras an Uachtaráin which was a powerful symbolic expression of the cherishing of the diaspora. She spoke of the truest way of cherishing the diaspora but she also spoke of the changing relationship. She stated:

Diaspora, in its meaning of dispersal or scattering, includes the many ways, not always chosen, that people have left this island. To cherish is to value and to nurture and support.If we are honest we will acknowledge that those who leave do not always feel cherished.

That moment in 1990 marked a really important shift in our relationship with the diaspora and a recognition that the relationship must remain dynamic, that it must evolve to meet changing circumstances and that there are very different groups and needs within the diaspora. Since then, we have sought to reach out and show a greater level of cherishing. I refer, for example, to the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, which was first awarded in 2012. Last year, it was presented to Edna O'Brien who has written so powerfully from exile, if you like, about the experience of growing up in Ireland in the 1950s. Just this year, we saw the brilliant exhibition curated by Dr. Angela Byrne in conjunction with EPIC and Melanie Lynch of her story, along with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This exhibition is being shown at Irish embassies around the world this year and will feature remarkable Irish women who have blazed a trail internationally as members of our diaspora. They include Eileen Gray, the designer and architect, Eva Gore-Booth and others, including Margaret O'Shaughnessy Heckler, the first woman to hold the post of US ambassador to Ireland and other women of whom I had not heard prior to the exhibition. This is really good to see.

I again welcome the new policy on overseas development aid, A Better World, published last week. It shows us how important a role a small country such as Ireland, which has a big diaspora, can play on the world stage in making a contribution back to countries which are still developing and to whom we need to reach out in support. I am glad to see that in that new policy there is a clear commitment to placing the sustainable development goals at the heard of development policy and a reaffirmation of our commitment to the UN target of achieving 0.7% of GNI* in our overseas development aid contribution by 2030. I also welcome the announcement of new initiatives on sexual and reproductive health and rights contained in the document. This is something for which I have pressed at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence, as have my colleagues on that committee. It is very welcome. I know that criticisms of that commitment have been expressed in this House but it is really important that we see this so clearly expressed and such a strong emphasis on particular priority issues around climate justice but also around women's equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights for women.

I wish to end by commending the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Irish Aid on this initiative. The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence will continue to support Irish Aid initiatives and our diaspora because we see them as two sides of the same coin in the context of Ireland reaching out and taking its place on the world stage.