Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

Along with all other speakers in the debate, I welcome the opportunity to say something about what the House is attempting to achieve. Outside of subtle nuances, the House is speaking collectively in seeking to resolve this problem. It is a fine line to tread and the matter must be treated with a great deal of sensitivity. One parliament cannot tell another parliament how to go about its business. It is about putting forward a recommendation, informing the debate in that other Chamber and accepting whatever decision is made subsequently. It is not too far out of order to say that of the two Bills before the Congress of the United States, the preferable Bill is the one presented by US Senators Kennedy and McCain.

I speak as the only Member of this House who was born in the United States and has the opposite problem of only being able to enter the United States with a US passport, as opposed to people who are Irish citizens who cannot leave the United States unless they have suitable green card and immigration papers in place. As other speakers have said, it must also be recognised that the number of Irish people who find themselves in this situation means there is someone known or related to everyone here because of the circumstances that have evolved. I do not think there is any need to repeat the ongoing history and link between the two countries that demand some type of response.

We can be somewhat confident that there is an attempt both at Congress level and with the US Administration to address the issue, and maybe for reasons other than the undocumented Irish. It is possibly the case that President Bush wants to regularise the situation of many Mexicans in the country because of a particular political benefit he might achieve by so doing. If that is the case and it helps Irish people, so much the better.

The only negative slant I place on this is that in debating this issue and speaking with one voice, as we will do at the end of the day, we must address the anomalies that exist in our own immigration policy. We lack any type of coherent immigration policy. What exists contains inconsistent elements such as the habitual residence clause that applies especially in regard to social welfare. This is something the Government will probably be forced to remove because of European law.

The only other point I would make is that when the legislation is approved in the United States, I hope it does not have a clause that says those who will be entitled to US green cards will have to earn something in the region of $75,000 and more in order to obtain a green card.

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