Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What is required is to examine ways in which people who are working in, and contributing to, the economy and who want to stay here can potentially find a pathway to legitimising their position with the documentation to back that up. The Minister is willing to look at that but it needs to be managed in a way that does not give the impression that Ireland is looking at amnesties or that creates a potentially unwelcome pull factor of which we need to take account. Having said that, there needs to be consistency between what we ask of other countries in their treatment Irish citizens and how we treat foreign nationals here who are part of our society and the economy.

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