Ms Helen Lowry:

That is a very good question. The Justice for the Undocumented campaign group had many discussions about this with members and others. It is probably the line which we can organise behind and is politically possible. It is also realistic. Irregular migration or being undocumented is a global reality and after a period of time most countries realise that they must do something about it. We have been saying this for some time in our work in this area, but felt we had to put forward criteria that were realistic. We tossed a few different ideas around, but we felt that in the case of somebody who was here for six months, a year or less than two years it was very hard to advocate that they should be in the same situation as somebody who has been here for 12 years. That is not to say that somebody who has been here for less than four years should not be eligible for this scheme, but that is something that requires further consideration.