Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Ireland is the first country to achieve a working holiday agreement with the US. I do not want to understate the significance of that. Negotiations were held over several years and the scheme is not open ended in the sense that it is available only to those who are in post-secondary education or within 12 months of graduation from third level education.

A similar agreement has been in place with Australia since 1985. Approximately 17,000 Irish people went to Australia last year and 13,000 travelled the previous year. The J1 working holiday scheme, which is valid for the summer months, was taken up by approximately 6,000 Irish citizens last year, whereas only 290 US citizens came to Ireland on the programme.

In our view, this is just the first step of a wider approach. Our intention is to develop strong bilateral frameworks with the United States, a country with which we have strong historical ties. Having dealt with work permits in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I found it strange that we did not have reciprocal arrangements with the United States from a cultural, social or employment perspective. Given that generations of Irish people have emigrated to America since before the Famine, some sort of bilateral framework should be put in place.

We are pursuing the idea of a renewable work visa arrangement with the US. To that end I met with senior Senators and Congressmen on my visit to increase the prospects of their arriving at such a conclusion. However, that would not include the undocumented Irish, who represent the third prong of our approach. This will await the outcome of the presidential election in the US. We have continued to lobby in this regard. I met with the Congressional Friends of Ireland, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy, the Chairman of the relevant House sub-committee, Zoe Lofgren, and many others to try to get consensus on this issue.

See this speech in context