Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hoped that consideration would be given to the proposals that a child-sensitive, human rights-compliant, transparent legal framework for immigration would be adopted where the best interests of the child is a guiding principle, that applications for visas and residents' permissions would be considered and that there would be statutory rights-based procedures for family reunification in respect of Irish nationals and non-EEA nationals, with expanded categories of migrants eligible for immediate family reunification. I am going off my Topical Issue Matter but this is part of the bigger picture. Also I hoped for an independent appeals mechanism to review negative decisions in applications and for appropriate, tailored immigration permission for children who are required to register and a formal statelessness determination procedure for people who cannot establish citizenship of any nation.

The Minister will understand that there are many practical challenges that prevent people from registering so that they are undocumented. I noted the response at the end "where a humanitarian approach may taken where merited on a case-by-case basis". That is posing a challenge where similar applications receive different responses. There is little insight into why these different responses pertain. If some of these suggestions are put in place, it would save time and resources in the administration process. If we, as a State, have invested taxpayers' money in accommodating, educating and getting people here to a stage where they consider themselves Irish citizens, then allowing them to complete that education, integrate into the labour market and become part of society is the best outcome for everybody concerned.

See this speech in context