Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is a contest for the leadership of my party and I expect to be in this office until 4 July. I have been giving some consideration to the issues to which I should apply my attention and in the intervening period I intend to apply my attention to two issues which are the responsibility of the Department. They are Northern Ireland to try to have some advance in the window before the start of the marching season in the Haass talks process and immigration reform to see if we can make progress in dealing with the very difficult situation in which the undocumented Irish find themselves in the United States. We are receiving reports that there may be some potential for movement in June and July. I do not want to exaggerate it because we have been here before and there have been false dawns. These are the two issues to which I intend to devote the remaining time I have in office.

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