Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is an important piece of legislation. It will deal with the immensely difficult set of circumstances facing approximately 50,000 undocumented Irish in the US over a long time. The Bill will introduce a three-stage process for these people. Those who were in the US before 31 December 2011 and have remained since will become registered provisional immigrant, RPIs, which will allow them to work and travel in and out of the United States. That takes in a ten-year period, with a further adjustment after that to lawful permanent residence - the green card - and after a further three years, they may apply for citizenship if they wish to. It is a clear pathway. Under the Bill, there will be E3 visas available for new Irish immigrants to the US, who can work for up to two years.

It is not the case that the Irish interest in this has been targeted in some way, but immigration is a controversial issue in the US, and 300 amendments to the Bill have been tabled. I met people on Capitol Hill when I was there over the St. Patrick's Day period who told me it is not a question of what happens on Capitol Hill, in the Senate or in the House of Representatives but what happens on chat shows and radio talk shows when it becomes a wider political issue. The Deputy asked what could be done to help. We are very much on top of the matter. I am in regular contact with key people promoting the legislation and the Taoiseach and I spoke with leaders in the US when we were there. The embassy in Washington is also very much on top of this.

I know Members of this House on all sides have contacts of one kind or another with different political parties in the United States, and now is the time to use that in a positive way. We should use those links to promote what we want to achieve. In doing so, we must be sensitive to the political reality that immigration in the United States is a sensitive political issue, as it is here or anywhere else in Europe. We must be aware of that sensitivity in promoting our case because this is the first big break in the issue. We have always stated that comprehensive immigration reform was the way to resolve the problem of the undocumented Irish and there is now a Bill that I am anxious to see pass. This involves real politics and members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are subject to lobbying of various kinds as well as public comment. We are lobbying our case and we should use any contacts we have to further it.

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