Mary Harney
Question:13 Miss Harney asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the Federation of Irish Societies on Wednesday, 12 March 1997. [7740/97]
Written Answers. - Meeting with Irish Societies.
I met with representatives of the Federation of Irish Societies on Wednesday, 12 March and discussed the following issues: the Commission for Racial Equality and the need for ethnic monitoring; the federation's arguments for the inclusion of Irish people as a separate category in the British census which will take place in 2001; the federation's wish to see the Irish community in Britain have a greater role in the peace process; its proposal for a full time cultural officer to be funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs; its request that funding for DÍON be maintained and increased — I undertook to lobby strongly in support of this — the commitment given by the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary body to update the Irish in Britain report; the importance of twinning and in particular the recent twinning of Liverpool and Dublin and the possibility of the federation receiving an allocation from the Peace and Reconciliation Programme.