Mr. Brian O'Dwyer:

I thank the committee for its kind invitation. I have served for many years as the chairman of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. It is located in Queens and the Bronx, New York, from which we provide all forms of legal and social services to our Irish immigrants. This year we celebrate the 26th anniversary of the centre. I acknowledge the presence of my colleagues Mr. Mike Carroll and Mr. Cody McCone who have worked with me over the years on behalf of Irish immigrants and Ireland in general.

I am delighted that this committee, by this invitation, has signalled to the island of Ireland its concern for the immigrants, both documented and undocumented, living in the United States. Since the committee's kind invitation, profound events involving many of our immigrants have taken place in Washington, D.C., and I will use a portion of my time to explain the significance of those events.

On 20 November, President Obama announced a sweeping executive action of US immigration policy that will have monumental effects on many Irish Immigrants living in the US. For years the president has urged Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform and, in fact, the US Senate passed a comprehensive Bill that met with extensive bipartisan support. Unfortunately, despite that Bill and despite the fact that if presented to the House it would have passed, the leadership in the House of Representatives blocked the Bill from being considered. As a result, the action the president took was not as far-reaching as we would have liked, but was probably the best he could do legally.

President Obama’s action will benefit those Irish living in the US for more than five years and who have children who were born in the US. Those eligible Irish living in the US will have the ability to register for the programme, pay their taxes and pass a criminal background check. They in turn will be given deferred action for three years, which means that they will be able to work in the US and be free from the fear of deportation. We believe this action will possibly affect as many as half of the undocumented Irish living in the US. While current estimates of 50,000 undocumented have been suggested, my experience tells me that there are far more than that currently present in the US and that when we start processing the requests for executive action we will see much greater numbers than have been previously postulated.

Of course, President Obama’s action is not all for which we would hope. It does not benefit those who have recently arrived in the United States or those who do not have American born children. There are many who have been in the US for over five years without children. It is an executive order, which means that the next president can rescind it, and it is not a pathway to citizenship. While not yet explicit in the president's action, we believe that the deferred action will allow our immigrants an ability to travel home for humanitarian reasons. We will be working with the White House along with other immigrant groups to assure the broadest possible permission to travel for those affected by the president’s order.

All members of this committee are aware of the stress and prolonged heartbreak that have beset our immigrants when they have been unable to travel home to attend to dying or sick parents or siblings. Probably the most heartbreaking part of my work and the work of the immigration centre is to tell an immigrant that they cannot go home to their mother's funeral.

We are confident we will be able to alleviate this stress for many of our undocumented immigrants. As I stated, we will work diligently with the Executive department - President Obama's office - to ensure travel permissions are as broad as possible and, at a minimum, the 50% of Irish immigrants affected by the order will be able to go home for humanitarian reasons.

I thank the Taoiseach and Department of Foreign affairs for their tireless and effective advocacy and support for Irish immigrants in the United States. I also publicly acknowledge and thank the Irish ambassador to the United States, Ms Anne Anderson, for her work on the issue of the undocumented. Since her arrival to the United States, she has made this issue a core priority. The consul generals in New York, including the current consul general, Ms Barbara Jones, have been vital partners in our work.

I am especially grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, the Chairman, Deputy Jerry Buttimer, and the many members of the Dáil and Seanad who have travelled to the United States to champion the cause of the Irish in the US. Without them, this important step would not have been taken. I also thank all the political parties in the Oireachtas for their continued support of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. I am pleased to note that support for Irish emigrants to the United States has never been the subject of political debate on this island and for that I am also grateful, as are all the Irish immigrants living in the United States.

We will count on the groundwork we have in place and will seek additional funding from the Government to ensure we are in a position to help as many Irish applicants as possible from the date the scheme opens in May 2015. We calculate that, between May of next year and the end of the current Administration, we will help thousands of potential applicants in New York city and across the east coast of the United States. Our vision will include the enhancement of current services to ensure legal resources are available at every level and our social service delivery can be maximised to meet possible further growth. I will take a moment to explain what this will entail. It is our belief that when the executive action comes into force, many of our people who have been trapped in cash jobs which are below their skill levels will be able to secure employment or training that correspond to their skill levels. Once this measure is implemented, our job will be more complex than simply processing immigrants who can take advantage of the executive action and will involve training and finding work that was previously not attainable because of immigrants' undocumented status.

Unfortunately, the undocumented are not eligible for public assistance, although they may receive benefits necessary for their health and survival. This means that while they are covered for visits to emergency rooms in the case of catastrophic illness, routine medical procedures are not covered. As members are aware, the individuals in question tend to postpone or defer completely preventative care and treatment for minor medical issues, thus placing themselves at risk of experiencing even worse health outcomes. The Emerald Isle Immigration Center has been able to work with the city and State of New York to secure free health care for children. Many Irish immigrants mistakenly believe their children do not have medical cover because they do not have green cards. Regardless of status, all children are covered by the State of New York for all types of medical care. It is important that we get this message out to the community.

Similarly, the elderly are also eligible for all types of medical care, irrespective of status. Our job is to ensure they are provided with complete access to medical care, even where they do not have documentation. Unfortunately, immigrants who do not fall into these two categories - the elderly and children - experience substantial problems in this area.

The centre's meals on wheels programme has borne great fruit. Using a large group of volunteers, our centre in The Bronx provides daily hot meals delivered directly to elderly people. The initiative provides a sense of companionship as someone will look in on the elderly every day, thus allowing them to maintain their dignity while living at home. We would like to expand the programme in the Bronx and extend it to Queens. When the electricity supply was cut off in the Bronx during Hurricane Sandy our volunteers climbed 12 flights of stairs every day to look in on the elderly until power was restored.

Recently, we were able to help a 64 year old man who had been working as a cook in the Bronx. He suffered an accident, was unable to work and had no insurance. We were able to get him admitted to hospital for surgery. Unfortunately, he did not have access to social services or physiotherapy but we were able to find a way for him to return to Ireland and receive the support of his family to help him recover. Unfortunately, repatriation is one of the only ways we can help immigrants with certain types of injuries.

Sadly, the issue of suicide, to which the two previous speakers referred, is ever present in our immigrant population. Unfortunately, the Irish community in Queens has experienced several suicides and many such deaths are not reported as suicide. One suicide is one death too many. The considerable success the centre has achieved in this area has gone unreported. We take the issue of mental health very seriously and our social workers in the Bronx and Queens have been very successful in intervening at an early stage to provide health supports. We welcome the initiative taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Deenihan, in providing additional resources to the community to deal with this serious problem and look forward to collaborating with partner agencies and the wonderful team of consular staff in New York in this regard.

The Emerald Isle Immigration Center appreciates the interest, assistance and support of the committee. I urge each and every member to visit one of the centre's offices in the Bronx and Queens. I believe they would be impressed with the hard work and outreach done by our staff and volunteers. I hope they will take the opportunity to visit us.

The health issues of the community are extensive due in no small part to the lack of health services provided to the undocumented. However, with the committee's help we, at the centre, are meeting these challenges. President Obama's action, by providing employment and thus health insurance, will go a long way towards alleviating many of these problems. The ultimate solution, however, is to regularise the status of each and every Irish immigrant in the United States. It is time, once and for all, that the sign "Irish need not apply" was ripped down form the borders of the United States. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.