John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Deputy Mansergh.

I thank the Opposition for tabling this motion and I commend all sides of the House for agreeing the motion. We all have constituents who are affected by this issue. There was all-party agreement on the last occasion this issue was raised in the House in October 2005. I appreciate that the Opposition made use of Private Members' time and agreed to a joint motion.

Many of us in our capacity as public representatives have worked on this issue. We all know constituents who have been adversely affected. These are people who left Ireland when it was a different country, when the prosperity we now enjoy was not to be seen. People left this country for the US and for one reason or another could not return to Ireland. They are currently living in the US in different circumstances and those we refer to as the undocumented Irish are contributing to the society and the economy of the United States. We want them to be regularised so they can be part of the country in which they live and work and where they have married and have children. It is a complicated story and the total number of undocumented people of all nationalities is up to 12 million. Members of this House have travelled to the United States and have discussed this matter with Senators and Congressmen from all sides.

I had the opportunity to travel to the US a number of years ago and met with Congressmen and Senators. We met Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John McCain. On foot of our all-party delegation meeting with Senator John McCain, a motion on the undocumented Irish was tabled and debated in this House and in the other House and agreed by all parties in October 2005. It set out not a Government position but the position of both Houses of this Parliament regarding people who have emigrated. That motion was precipitated by a request from Senator John McCain and we delivered it. Two years later we are in the same situation and it is disappointing that progress has not been made. We may question what action the Government, the Minister or the Taoiseach can take. We might pass the buck and say it is up to the US Senate and Congress. As Members of this House we hold positions of influence, no matter what side of the House we are on. We should use that influence well and effectively.

I refer to the 29th Dáil and compliment a colleague, Deputy John Cregan from Limerick, who chaired an all-party ad hoc group with an interest in the undocumented Irish. He represented that cause here in the House and he also travelled to the US. I understand Deputy Cregan will continue to work in that capacity. That is important. All of us ask what the Taoiseach and Ministers can do. All of us have influence with our colleagues in the US. We meet them when they come to our country and we travel to theirs. Certainly from my perspective, one of the most interesting engagements I had was not when I was in the US but in March or April, prior to the general election, when eight members of the US Congress were in Ireland. I was part of a delegation that met them in a formal capacity. One night our official engagements concluded at 9 p.m. when we met them in the ambassador's residence in the Phoenix Park. After that we met informally on our own time — eight members of the US Congress and my colleagues and I — and travelled down town to a local pub where we discussed informally this issue. At the informal discussion we showed the hardship we could not necessarily get across at formal meetings and explained individual cases of people who left this country, and that meant an awful lot more to the Congressmen. The reason I use that example is that opportunity is available to all of us. If we are to encourage the US Administration, the Senate and Congress, to look at our case favourably then all of us on all sides of the House, with our active engagements with members of the Senate and Congress, need to use that opportunity well. We need to influence them.

While we all appreciate there are a number of Senators and Congressmen who have associations and Irish backgrounds and who are sympathetic to what we are trying to achieve they need the support of other members of the Senate and Congress. It is important that Members on all sides of this House impress upon them the hardship that this is bringing to people of this country who emigrated many years ago when Ireland was a different economy and the circumstances they are now facing. We all have the opportunity to do this. While the primary focus resides with the Taoiseach and the Minister, and they have worked to their full capacity, I, in my capacity as an individual Member and my colleagues need to use our opportunities where we regularly meet, either here or abroad, members of the US Senate and Congress to impress upon them the importance of resolving this issue.

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