Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to acknowledge the good work done by the members of the Oireachtas joint committee who visited Washington last year. It is most helpful to have parliamentarians from Ireland talking with their counterparts in the United States about this issue.

In respect of the Irish interest in immigration reform, our representations are generally very well received and there is no difficulty in making our case. There is a difficulty, however, in that the situation of Irish immigrants is part of a much larger immigration issue in the United States. As I said, approximately 50,000 Irish citizens are caught in this situation, alongside some 11 million immigrants from other countries, including Mexico and Latin America. Deputy Crowe is correct that employer organisations and interests in the United States have signalled their desire for progress on immigration reform. Many of the people concerned are working in the economy and employers are keen to have their employees' situation regularised.

I hope 2014 will be the year in which we see significant progress on this issue. Part of the problem is that it gets tied into the political cycle. Immigration in the United States, as in this and many other countries, is a tricky and sensitive political issue. Depending on the constituency, it can play out in various different ways. The issue remains a major priority for us and we will continue our efforts to address it.

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