Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I concur with Deputy Ó Snodaigh that challenges exist in the area of social and economic integration which need to be urgently addressed, although we have already made significant progress in that area. While the legislation on work permits pertains to economic migration, it dovetails with the immigration and residence Bill which the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform plans to bring before the House. This will mean there will be faster family reunification, which has strong social implications for the families and individuals concerned. Our ad hoc practices in this area were untenable, particularly when we were short of researchers in areas like nanotechnology. In one case a person's family and children were not allowed in for months. We need to sharpen that up and this will be the impact of the Act. Deputy McDowell agrees with that. On the co-ordination question raised by Deputy Cuffe and the committee, it cannot all be solved by one agency. The Government is working with Ministers who have specific responsibilities in migration, for example significant advances have been made on education provision in terms of language and participation rates for children of immigrants. Deputy Michael Higgins raised the issue of the ratification of the UN Convention. I will have a more detailed look at that. Originally he said there were 34 signatories to ratification.

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