Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The position of undocumented Irish immigrants in the United States and the need to provide opportunities for future legal migration between Ireland and the USA through Ireland's inclusion in the E-3 visa programme are important priorities for the Government. Both objectives featured prominently in the meetings the Taoiseach and I held in Washington with the US Administration and Congress during the St. Patrick's Day period. Meetings took place with President Obama, Senators Leahy, Schumer, McCain and Isakson and several leading Members of the House of Representatives. I also discussed the prospects for immigration reform in my meetings with Secretary of State John Kerry on 6 and 18 March 2013.

The clear advice to emerge from these high-level contacts was that comprehensive reform remaine the most likely way to resolve matters for the undocumented. The prospects for such reform have advanced in the wake of President Obama's re-election. He emphasised his commitment to achieving a positive outcome in his inauguration and State of the Union addresses and during his meeting with the Taoiseach and me on 19 March. Indications of emerging bipartisan support for reform in Congress are also encouraging. While work is under way in the Senate and the House of Representatives, full proposals have not yet been tabled and it is, therefore, not possible at this stage to identify an exact timescale during which progress might be achieved. It is also important to recognise that immigration remains a divisive political issue and that achieving a positive outcome will be very difficult. This issue will continue to receive the Government's closest attention in the period ahead.

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