Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. As I said at the outset, the plight of the undocumented is well known, with between 10,000 and 50,000 people affected. I ask the Tánaiste to take this opportunity to clarify his understanding of the numbers affected. When we hear figures, sometimes we do not think of the individuals behind them. I recently met a widow at a clinic in Granard. She can only visit her son when she can go to America. Thankfully, her grandchildren can come back because they are US citizens. She said to me with a tear in her eye that she is getting much older and she does not know for how much longer she will be able for the journey to the United States.

The Tánaiste said that the Taoiseach raised the issue again most recently at the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, which is welcome. How realistic does he think it is that we will be able to enter a bilateral reciprocal visa arrangement with the US, similar to that which, I understand, the US has with Australia?

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