Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we have mentioned previously, this is an extremely important issue because many families in this country want to be able to see family members return from the US. Many undocumented Irish are in a difficult position because they do not have papers. I urge the Tánaiste, his Department and the embassy in the US to continue to lobby at every political and official level to ensure this piece of Senate legislation can get through Congress as soon as possible. The officials at the foreign affairs committee were reasonably confident of progress being made in the relatively near future and we should hope that can be achieved. This is of utmost importance to so many Irish people living in the United States and their families in Ireland.

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