Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is important we deal with the Administration on the basis of settled policy at the time. There are many things said in the context of electoral contests. One has to listen to that and note it. There have been statements, which were they to be followed through in a certain fashion, would cause us some worry. We must allow the domestic contest to proceed to its finality and then deal with whatever Administration is honoured to serve the people of the United States following the election in November and from January next when the changeover takes place. We will deal with the issues as they arise. These types of matters have arisen before and through good diplomatic efforts we have been able to ensure that worst case scenarios never came to pass. There is a particular atmosphere in the States in regard to these matters which ebb and flow from time to time. We must await the outcome of the election. There is no point speculating on these issues in the present context.

Regarding the Deputy's first supplementary, I will, as I stated, do all I can. It is not a matter of contention between the parties as to what the objective of our efforts should be. Committees of the House maintain contact with their opposite numbers in Congress, the House of Representatives and Senate. Members of the House from all parties have taken a continuing interest in this matter and have built up a level of expertise that can be utilised through our committee system in terms of organising visits to ensure this matter remains to the forefront.

Our ambassador in Washington and his staff continue to seek support in this regard and to explain the creative ideas to which the US might be amenable in an effort to resolve this problem to our satisfaction. As the Deputy will be aware, the political conditions have not existed to resolve this matter in a way we would like to see it resolved. We must respect the situation, work around it and continue to seek other means through which we can resolve matters. We need to explore further with them and to advocate the proposal in respect of a bilateral working visa arrangement while recognising that we are not unique in this situation. We will also contend that the size of our problem is such as to make it more manageable than would be the case in respect of other ethnic groups. We are all aware through our constituency work of constituents who are in this unfortunate situation.

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