Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. Deputy Adams speaks about contact with the Administration. Obviously, diplomatic contact has been made. We have had clarification from the Customs and Border Protection people in respect of the matters I mentioned. Clearly, this is a matter of serious concern not just for Irish people or for those holding dual nationalities and dual passports here, but for people from all over the world.

The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, is on his way to Washington today and will be speaking with Speaker Ryan tomorrow in respect of this matter. Clearly, Congress has a serious issue to deal with in terms of its discussions about this particular order.

I intend to meet the undocumented Irish in Washington and other locations, as will every Minister, Deputy Adams, who travels to America for the St. Patrick's week celebrations, the St. Patrick's week presentations and so on.

No person is vulnerable to being deported from here or being removed from the country because, under section 12 of the Aviation (Preclearance) Act 2009, if people are turned back at a preclearance facility either in Shannon or in Dublin and are looking for refugee status or whatever, they are then dealt with under Irish law. We are fully compliant with the international norms and requirements on us. Obviously, we have had legal advice in respect of that at Government level.

We have made this point and will continue to make it very clearly, as other leaders around the world will do, that blanket bans on any country on the basis of religion are not morally acceptable. I disagree entirely with the policy that has been laid out. Clarifications are evolving and some have been given in the past 24 hours to us here from the Customs and Border Protection personnel in Washington, who have been contacted formally by Ireland.

There are typically 325,000 passengers arriving in the United States every day. While all passengers can be subject to secondary screening, usually fewer than 1% are referred for such screening. The US authorities are very conscious of the good relationship that has existed between Ireland and the US for very many reasons and for very many years. They are fully aware of the preclearance facilities and their value and they are anxious that they would be continued for the future, as are we. We want to be perfectly clear, however, that we are fully compliant with human rights legislation. There is no infringement in that regard and the issues that are arising now legally are strictly a matter for the American courts.

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