Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to focus on those who are in the asylum system as we speak. Some of them have been in this country for seven, eight and more years. Many of them have no memory of their country of origin. They consider them to be Irish. A young person's immigration status will define and determine his or her life. It will determine their access to education, social services, employment and housing.

I draw the Minister's attention to the Young People at Risk, YPAR, organisation in Dublin Central. The Minister, Deputy Zappone, launched its two-day conference recently in the Gresham Hotel. Those foreign national young people were speaking of their situation as it is now. They have come through primary and secondary level but they cannot access third level. They cannot go to work. Even those of them who can access the small amount of funding that is needed for a post-leaving certificate course, on having acquired a skill on having completed that course, they cannot use it because they cannot work. These young people want to contribute to Ireland in the same way as Irish migrants throughout the years have contributed to other countries where they lived. There is need to consider introducing an amnesty here in the same way that we are seeking one for the undocumented Irish in the United States. These young people refer to themselves as "ghosts". Their plea from the conference was that they do not want pity, they want regularisation.

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