Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Achieving relief for undocumented Irish migrants in the US and agreement on a facility for future legal migration between Ireland and the US is a priority in the Government’s relationship with the United States. Our embassy in Washington and consulates elsewhere in the US are active in advocating immigration reform and the issue is also the subject of high level political contacts between Ireland and the US Government. Meetings such as those between the Taoiseach, President Obama and other senior political figures around St. Patrick’s Day have provided an important opportunity to reiterate our concerns regarding the undocumented Irish and to encourage progress on a comprehensive legislative package by the US Congress.

In July, the Taoiseach and I met with John Boehner, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, and a number of his congressional colleagues when they visited Dublin. More recently, in Washington at the end of September, I met key Democrat and Republican contacts on Capitol Hill, including Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressmen Joseph Kennedy III, Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Richard Neal and other members of the Congressional Friends of Ireland group. In all of those meetings I stressed the importance we attach to immigration reform, as I did when meeting leaders of the Irish American community later that week in New York. I will take the opportunity to raise these points again when I visit New York in early January.

Following my meetings in September, a Bill was tabled by Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner in the US House of Representatives. The Bill is aimed at providing access to several thousand E3 visas for Irish citizens. I warmly welcome this positive step towards meeting the desire of many Irish people to live and work in the US for a time, but there is much work to be done in both Houses of Congress before this Bill might become law. I am also aware that while this measure would advance our objective of securing improved legal migration channels, it would not address the concerns of the many undocumented citizens currently in the US. These remain a key priority and continue to be the subject of ongoing contacts with the US authorities.

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