John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Green Party is very happy to be associated with the motion. Like all parties, the Green Party has very strong ties with the United States. My colleagues, Deputies Cuffe and Boyle, are American citizens, like many other Irish people. Many of the Green Party's researchers, including two researchers in my office, are American citizens. The Green Party employs excellent and hard-working interns from Massachusetts every year. My brother, who has been settled with his family in the United States for many years, has told me all about the undocumented Irish in the US.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is aware that I have been a harsh critic of the Bush Administration in recent years. I opposed the senseless war in Iraq. My worst fears and those of many people who opposed the war have been confirmed. We should never mistake criticism of American foreign policy and the Bush Administration with anti-Americanism. If all those who criticise George W. Bush are seen as anti-American, I am afraid that many Americans can be classed as anti-American.

Like most people in this country, I have a special affinity with the United States. When I was Lord Mayor of Dublin, I had the great pleasure of going to the United States, at the invitation of the then US ambassador, Ms Jean Kennedy Smith. I would like to acknowledge the presence in the Gallery of the current US ambassador. I was accompanied on my visit to the United States, which was organised to solidify the peace process, by the then Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr. Hugh Smith of the PUP. It was an amazing experience to visit the Irish centres in many American cities. It is probable that many of the people I met were undocumented. I was pleased to see the ties in action and to enjoy the warmth with which we were received. I have always said that the members of the Kennedy family do not just have an affinity with Ireland — they see themselves as Irish. That is why Senator Edward Kennedy has taken such an interest in this process.

When I visited the Queens district of New York with my brother, I spoke to many Irish people who found themselves in the form of limbo that has been mentioned. I was conscious that it was a difficult and stressful set of circumstances for them. I hope the legislation that is currently before the US Congress will alleviate many of the stresses encountered by such people. I hope they will no longer have to hide and worry about their futures.

It is fair to say that Ireland has depended on immigration in recent years. That was the main theme of the contribution to this debate by Deputy Michael D. Higgins. If one casts one's mind back to the 1980s, one will recall that the worst thing that could be said to students participating in demonstrations was that if they did not watch themselves — if they continued to participate in demonstrations — they might not get a visa to get into the United States. I know only too well that such threats were used by members of the Garda Síochána. It demonstrates the extent to which this country depended on its young people being able to get into the US.

I note the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, is in attendance. I recall that his father, the late Brian Lenihan, once said that Ireland was too small to accommodate all its people and that it was a good idea for people to get out of the country. We no longer find ourselves in that situation, luckily. Many people went to the US in the 1980s.

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