Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire
Question:1. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to report on the implementation of Ireland's Diaspora Strategy 2026-2030. [69242/26]
View answerThursday, 1 October 2026
Questions (1)
Oral answers (7 contributions)
I ask the Minister about the implementation of Ireland's Diaspora Strategy 2026-2030. What actions have come out of it and previous strategies to make life better for the diaspora, especially in relation to reciprocal driving licences?
I thank the Deputy for raising this question. The Government launched its new diaspora strategy at the global Irish civic forum on 30 April. It was launched by the Minister of State, Deputy Neale Richmond. He has led the largest ever consultation with the Irish abroad, with over 27 in-person meetings around the world. This included Oireachtas Members. We also hosted the first ever online consultation, the global Irish survey, which received some 10,000 responses.
Since then, the Minister of State has promoted the strategy in Britain, the US and Canada. When any of us travel abroad, we are promoting the strategy and indeed our diaspora. November will see the Asian launch in Hong Kong during the Asian Gaelic Games. The response to the strategy has been overwhelmingly positive, with the communities recognising that the 23 commitments the strategy is built around highlight the challenges but also the opportunities they have highlighted through their engagement prior to its launch. The strategy reflects our commitment to a new and unprecedented relationship with the Irish abroad. No matter where you go, depending on who you speak to, people would say there are anywhere between 30 million and 70 million Irish diaspora. We have a huge number of people to engage with. We will shortly publish an action plan setting out how we will deliver on the commitments up to 2030. The work is already under way.
In advance of the opening of the 2027 immigrant support programme, which will be in December, engagement with key stakeholders and service providers is ongoing to ensure the emigrant support programme remains to existing and emerging needs for the most vulnerable. We are working to support capacity development in some of the organisations. This specific request was made during the consultations, recognising the role of the GAA and how important it is for our overseas communities. Discussions are under way with the GAA on refreshing the global games development fund. I was in New York last week, where I engaged with many of our diaspora and saw the appetite among them for supporting our trade and economic priorities. It is welcome to see a set-up for engagement from diaspora business sectors more broadly. I will touch on more points later.
I thank the Minister. What actions came out of the previous strategies? There is a commitment to conclude the reciprocal driving licence exchange with the US states. I commend Safe Home Ireland and the Irish-US driver's licence exchange campaign on their work in this area. It is important that such arrangements are based on equivalent standards. The Minister will appreciate that aspects of our often nonsensical bureaucracy are a point of frustration for many members of the diaspora, for example those who drove for years in Ireland, have now driven for years in the United States and are expected to jump through all sorts of hoops when they return to Ireland. Will the Minister inform the House of formal arrangements that have begun with any US state beyond New York? When does she expect the first agreements to conclude?
I spoke to some of our diaspora directly when I was in New York. I see the frustration. This is something we all want to get over the line. We have committed to it previously and are working on it. We have driving licence exchange agreements with 21 jurisdictions, from Australia to Canada and everywhere in between. We are now working on concluding agreements with the US. One of the challenges is that every exchange has to be concluded at a state level, meaning we cannot do just one agreement and it has to be on an individual basis. While there has been widespread political agreement on both sides, it has taken longer than anybody would have liked.
There are three areas in particular where engagement is taking place, namely, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. I am assured by my colleagues based in the US that they are in consistent and regular engagement on this. Whatever needs to be done on this side, there is a commitment from our Minister and our Government to move it as quickly as possible. However, I do appreciate there is frustration. When we want people to come home, we want to make sure it is as easy as possible for them, but this work is under way and we hope to have it over the line for many of these states as soon as possible.
Earlier this year such an agreement did conclude, but it related to the commercial sector rather than the diaspora. I assume that if we can do it for the commercial sector, we should be able to do it for the diaspora too. I ask the Minister to push forward with this and try to get a means to an end with this. So many peoplewhot live in America really need to get their licences. I have people who have moved home from the States coming to my office all the time. They previously had a licence and just want to get it back, and they are being put through hoops. I cannot understand why it is not an easier process and why it cannot happen faster.
Technical engagements have to happen with the Road Safety Authority. Again, we want to get this done as quickly as possible. The RSA is engaging with its counterparts in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and our teams. I have asked our teams after last week's engagement to make sure we can move this along as quickly as possible.
There is so much more happening with the diaspora strategy. It is about making sure we revitalise the global Irish hub and respond to community needs, promote well-being and look at advocacy on behalf of our diaspora, as well as the excellent consular assistance our teams provide. It is about preserving the Irish language and the history of our diaspora. It is about the role of sport. This year I launched our new sports diaspora strategy in Boston and here, and we want to make sure we are using sport in the most positive way possible. We see that happening in Ireland with the US, the games that have taken place and the connections that can create. We also want to show collaboration between the different organisations. When I was in New York last week, I launched the green book, a directory of our diaspora organisations in New York all in the one place and directory for people to be able to access them.
A huge amount of work is happening, but I appreciate that in the case of practical matters like this we want to get them over the line. We are pushing to make that happen because when people come home, they want to be able to move on as quickly as possible.
Bogfaidh muid ar aghaidh chuig an gcéad cheist eile in ainm an Teachta Richard Boyd Barrett.