The Government has committed itself to do what it can to help Irish emigrants abroad as evidenced by the appointment of a Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora and a Senator representing the diaspora. In this regard, I compliment the Taoiseach on speaking up for the undocumented Irish in America in his excellent speech in Washington last month. However, when it comes down to the practicalities, we appear to be putting barrier after barrier in the way of our emigrants returning home and making a contribution to the rebuilding of Ireland.

About 300,000 people left this country over the past decade to find work when jobs were not available here. Many others were forced to extend stays abroad because of the downturn in our economy. Many of these people now want to come back home, but for many it is an economic impossibility. The cost of motor insurance is typical of the issues they face. Drivers who have been out of the country for just two years lose any no-claims entitlements they had before they left, possibly adding thousands to already prohibitive insurance costs.

There is also a particular barrier regarding access to universities and third-level colleges. If people have lived outside the EU for two of the previous five years their children are treated as international students and must pay exorbitant fees to go to college. Those fees could come to €100,000 for an undergraduate course.

I was recently contacted by a group of Irish families living and working in California for the past three to 12 years. Most of them work with Medtronic, the medical device manufacturer, whose plant in Galway is one of the largest employers in Ireland with close to 3,000 workers directly employed there. These are mainly highly educated and skilled people, Irish to the core, who feel they have much to contribute to this country if they were to return. With many of them now having children approaching college age they are anxious that they should get an Irish third level education, but the costs allied to the reduction to their salaries should they return to Ireland, make this prohibitive. If they go to college in the United States it is likely that they will stay there for their lives, their talents lost to Ireland along with those of their parents.

Others in the United States are becoming more fearful for their future there because they are undocumented. For them and many other Irish families in Australia, Canada and around the globe, the question of returning home is a heartbreaking quandary because they know if they do, their children will not be able to advance to a college education which is considered a basic necessity for accessing so many careers today.

When will the Government remove the barrier to people returning home and relax the strict residency rules that are preventing Irish children from accessing affordable Irish education that should be their right? They are essentially being treated as foreigners in their own land.

One of the greatest difficulties for the undocumented Irish in the United States is the renewal of their Irish driver's licences. For many, it is the only thing preventing deportation from the United States. In all the sanctuary cities, the production of that licence saves people from arrest.

An Irish passport can be renewed online and at the post office, but a driver's licence cannot be renewed unless the applicant presents himself or herself in person at a National Driver Licence Service centre in this country. This is an impossibility for those living in the US and other parts of the world. When will the same online renewal facilities be extended to cover driver licences?

I thank the Deputy for raising a number of important issues affecting the Irish abroad and returning migrants and for acknowledging the Taoiseach's important contribution to the effort to resolve the problems facing undocumented Irish living in the United States in particular. I wish to record the fact that the Government has made the decision to extend voting rights in presidential elections from 2026 onwards to Irish citizens abroad. The Deputy also mentioned the appointment of Senator Billy Lawless to represent the diaspora in our Seanad.

At the moment 400 Irish citizens living abroad return every week to live in Ireland, which is a great thing to see. Who would have thought only five or six years ago that we would be returning to net inward migration and that more people would be coming home to Ireland than are leaving? This reflects better than most statistics the extent to which our economy has turned around and how well our jobs market is doing.

I am advised that we are devising a protocol on access to motor insurance for returning emigrants. The Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, wants to act on this in particular. Those who are coming back here and taking up jobs want to be able to access insurance and carry their good no-claims record with them, as they should be allowed to do.

We run into a very particular issue in respect of education, which is that we must treat all EU citizens the same. This means treating an Irish citizen exactly the same as we would a French, Italian or German citizen. If we say to an Irish citizen who has never lived in Ireland that he or she is entitled to free education and college grants, we must say the same thing to more than 400 million EU citizens. A consequence of providing free education and grants to anyone in the European Union who wants it would be the enormous cost implications for the State. We need to take that into account.

Our rules and regulations require a person to be resident in the State to have an Irish driver licence, but people can apply for their driver licence if back here for a short period of time. If they have an Irish passport, they may wish to apply for the new passport card online, which can be done from America. This could be useful in terms of having an ID. It can be done using an app and providing a selfie online. If photo ID is required, they can use the Irish passport card instead of the driver licence.

I thank the Minister for his reply. It is all very well to give our emigrants abroad the opportunity to vote in our presidential elections - I welcome it - but there is an issue regarding driver licences, particularly in the sanctuary cities in the Unites States. Last year I attended a wedding in the United States where a number of Irish people came up to me. Their biggest issue was that they cannot renew their Irish driver's licences. The passport card is not a driver's licence. When pulled in in the United States, the first thing a person is asked for is his or her driver's licence. Most young Irish people in the United States are carpenters or labourers, etc. and they have to have a vehicle for work. Some of them have been arrested. The most important document a person has is his or her passport and an application can be made online, through An Post and by ordinary post. However, this is not possible with a driver's licence.

Recently in Australia, a young person's wallet was stolen with his driver's licence in it. He turned up for work on the Monday morning but could not work because his job was driving. He had to come home to get his driver's licence renewed and fly back out again. It is one of the biggest issues affecting the young undocumented in the United States. I will finish on a point that we have raised in the foreign affairs committee. Deputy Joe McHugh, who is the Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, is working on this through an interdepartmental group. Will the Minister get the message to the Taoiseach to find a solution to the issue so that people can apply online?

I will discuss the matter with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Best of luck finding him.

I am due to discuss some other matters with him today.

On the face of it, given that passports can be renewed online, it seems to make sense that people would be able to renew a driver's licence online provided we have on record the applicant's safe II photograph. It should be possible to do this and I will discuss the matter with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, later today and perhaps ask him to speak directly to the Deputy.