Ms Edel McGinley:

When we talk about undocumented people, we are talking about people who do not have legal status in the State. As I said, children do not have to register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau up to the age of 16. Technically, they are linked to their parents' immigration status so they have none if their parents have none. Generally, parents enter the State on tourist visas and student visas and they may overstay. Children enter in various ways. They join their families on tourist visas or use other forms of entry to the State. We are not really talking about direct provision or the refugee system but about an immigration system that is separate from asylum and refugee issues. Really, we are talking about immigration. Since children are linked to the immigration status of their parents, we are talking about those parents who overstay in respect of their immigration status. The two types of affected children we find in the State are children born to undocumented parents and children who come here between the ages of four and 13, for example, to join their parents. These are the two cohorts of children and young people about whom we are talking. They are very separate from children in direct provision.