John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

People are allowed to wallow in jail, in some cases for two or three months. When it was brought to the Government's attention, someone managed to make some telephone calls. The Government only took this matter seriously as a result of pressure from the media and from Opposition Deputies.

There is a larger issue. We have a major stake in this matter because the estimates of undocumented Irish in America range from 5,000 to 50,000 people. As far as the Administration's bid to deal with this problem through legislation is concerned, it is coming up to crunch time. My concern is that considering what the Government has failed to do in the last 18 months——

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