This morning, we heard the verdict of the people of the USA in national electoral contests. The Republicans now control the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the most important of these contests was the presidential election. Mr. Donald Trump has now been elected to be the 45th President of the United States of America. The people of the USA have spoken and the onus is clearly on the President-elect to represent all of its people and play a positive and progressive role in world affairs. That obligation must include maintaining the positive engagement that successive US Presidents have had with Ireland. It also means resolving the issue of the 50,000 undocumented Irish living in North America.

Ní féidir linn dearmad a dhéanamh ar ról na Stát Aontaithe sa phróiseas síochána. Tá súil agam go leanfaidh sé sin ar aghaidh. Uniquely, the Irish peace process has had the support of Republican and Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate. I am sure that this will continue, in particular under the leadership of Congressman Richie Neal and Congressman Peter King.

I commiserate with Ms Hillary Clinton. As First Lady, Senator for New York and Secretary of State, she was always engaged with Ireland. Like her husband, former President Bill Clinton, she has remained interested in developing and supporting the peace process. She has been a good friend to the people of this island and I extend my thanks and best wishes to her and her family.

I will also take this opportunity to thank President Barack Obama for his engagement with the peace process. His special envoy, Mr. Gary Hart, has made an important contribution to resolving difficulties and has been an advocate of continued dialogue. The Obama administration facilitated the involvement of Dr. Richard Haass and Professor Meghan O'Sullivan, who chaired an all-party group on issues relating to parades, flags, emblems and the past. I state all of this just to give the House a short insight into what the Taoiseach knows has been the contribution thus far.

The key challenge for the Taoiseach will be to ensure that support for the peace process continues under the new administration over the coming four years and that the new President continues to play a positive role. This is even more important, given the challenges of Brexit. When does the Taoiseach intend to speak to President-elect Trump and how does the Government intend to meet these challenges?

The people of the United States made a very clear choice in their election yesterday and, both by the popular and collegiate vote, have elected Donald Trump to be President and Mike Pence to be Vice President. I have written to both men this morning congratulating them on behalf of the Government and the people of Ireland. I pointed out that we remembered Hillary Clinton for the work that she did during the years, with her husband, in the peace process and for being a good friend to Ireland in general. I also pointed out to the President-elect that the Government would continue to work very closely with his new administration, as all previous administrations here had worked with whatever President had been elected in the United States. I made the point that the changed situation in both the US Senate and Congress meant that the Republican Party would be in a position, if it so wished, to bring forward a comprehensive Bill on immigration which should be able to deal with undocumented Irish people. Deputy Gerry Adams will recall that Senator John McCain who has been re-elected on this occasion was co-sponsor of major immigration legislation, with the late former Senator Ted Kennedy. Obviously, we will endeavour to have that legislation put back on the agenda with the new administration when President-elect Trump sets it up.

On the peace process and the support the United States has always given to it, we will start the process of making acquaintance with, and arrangements to meet, the relevant personnel in the new US administration. We will make a request for an opportunity to speak to the President-elect. As I said, I wrote to him and the Vice President-elect formally this morning on behalf of the Government and the Irish people. We intend to work very closely with the new administration on the matters mentioned by Deputy Gerry Adams and others of wider import.

As the Taoiseach said, one of the massive issues has to be the plight of the 50,000 undocumented Irish. As he recounted, President Obama did try to make progress on that issue, but he was blocked in Congress. That blocking may and, arguably, is likely to continue. In fairness to him, the Taoiseach has raised the issue many times, as I have. I appeal to him to persist in the time ahead.

The big challenge, particularly following Brexit, is to sustain White House support for the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process. Sinn Féin has never taken that support for granted. Irish America is the bridge between this island and the policy makers in the White House and Congress. That is why we engage so fully with our friends there. They have kept faith in the quest for peace on this island and with the very legitimate and necessary objective of Irish unity. We must all do what we can to encourage and support this work.

Alongside the plight of the undocumented Irish and whatever economic challenges new White House policies might present, there is a need to sustain and increase the very considerable contribution from the USA to the peace process. I ask the Taoiseach to assure the Dáil that this will be a primary objective of his Government and that he will go about and press ahead with achieving it consistently and strategically.

Yes, the Deputy can be so assured and take it that I will be seeking the support of everybody in this House in the national interest and the interests of the people. I am sure everybody will support the Deputy's call. I would like to set out our range of priorities, of which the President-elect will be informed in good time before his administration is appointed. They obviously include US support for the peace process which it has given since before the Good Friday Agreement and our continuous request that the United States deal in a substantial way with the 50,000 undocumented young Irish men and women. There are other issues that we will set out, too. The Deputy can rest assured that, as far as the Government is concerned, we will start very early to acquaint the new US administration with and inform it of our priorities, on which we will follow through as diligently as we can. The Government will keep the party leaders informed of progress.