Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Vice President Biden is to come to Ireland. All of the details have not yet been worked out, but he wants to carry out a number of formal engagements and trace his family roots on both sides. The opportunity to be present at the Kennedy Center with 2,500 people watching some of the outstanding performing artists of Ireland was an occasion to remember. It was very well received both by the audience and the wider American public.

It is important that the Library of Congress and the other locations I visited went out of their way to present many of the newspaper reports of the 1916 Rising, which featured on the front page of The New York Timesfor almost 14 consecutive days at the time. Obviously, newspapers were very different then - they were all news and had very few pictures. There was much more reading on the front page than one would find in modern-day newspapers.

When I met the President, the Vice President, Speaker Ryan and the 20 Congressmen who turned up to the Friends of Ireland event, including Congressman Richie Neal and Congressman Peter King, I mentioned the question of the undocumented. Clearly, the US Government is being strangled because of the polarity between the two parties on Capitol Hill. I urged them to get together, where possible, in the interests of a common objective and a common problem. I raised the issue again at the Speaker's lunch on Capitol Hill. A Bill tabled by Congressman Sensenbrenner in the US House of Representatives aims to give Irish citizens access to several thousand E3 visas. While this is a welcome and positive step forward, there is a great deal of work to be done in both Houses of Congress before the Bill might become law. This measure would advance our objective of securing improved legal migration channels but it would not address the concerns of undocumented citizens who are currently in the US, and to whom Deputy Adams has rightly referred. The people in question will continue to be a key priority in the time ahead in our contacts with the US authorities.

As Deputies will know, President Obama has taken executive action within certain limited constraints of the US Presidency but that action has been appealed. A judicial case on immigration reform has been referred to the US Supreme Court and a decision is expected early in the summer. Obviously, we do not yet know the outcome of that. If the appeal succeeds and the measure is implemented, President Obama's executive action could benefit a significant number of our citizens by lifting the threat of deportation that hangs over them. It would allow undocumented immigrants who meet the conditions of the new arrangements to work and travel more freely within the US. We are waiting to see what the outcome of this case will be. The Government as a whole and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin and the Irish Embassy in Washington, in particular, will continue to pursue all of these leads actively.

Deputy Adams also asked about giving the diaspora the opportunity or the right to vote in Presidential elections, which is of particular interest to the Irish community abroad. At one of the functions in Washington, I met a number of people who have quite a deal of expertise in this matter and are willing to make it available to us. I have appointed Deputy Joe McHugh as Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. I have asked him specifically to pursue the question of making it become a reality that we allow Irish citizens in various categories who are living abroad to be able to vote in Presidential elections with whatever conditions are appropriate. That would be one of his specific priorities as Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. It is my intention to ensure this commitment is carried through. I believe in it strongly. I hope we can bring it to a reality. The scale of the spread of Irish emigrants all over the world means that the manner in which this can be facilitated will be a central part of the discussions. If a decision were made to require people to vote at a single central location, a miner or a welder in Alaska might not be inclined to travel to Washington. We have to look at other means of allowing people to give their support that can be validated and authenticated. Given that 35 million people in America claim Irish ancestry and heritage, consideration must be given to the question of how far back we should go when deciding who has the right to vote in these circumstances. All of these matters are subjects for discussion. I assure the House that the Government is committed to this. It will be a specific priority of the Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora to see that it is followed through.

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