Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join in the congratulations and welcome to the people who were conferred with Irish citizenship at the ceremony held in Killarney this week. I raise the issue of the cohort of undocumented people who live in Ireland. The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland has stated that up to 26,000 people have been living undocumented for many years in the country. They are rooted in their communities, they contribute to the economy and the vast majority work, yet they are undocumented. We make a big case every year for the undocumented Irish in the US and I have raised the issue with the Tánaiste on many occasions.

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, who I am glad to see is here and will be able to respond, launched a scheme but it was narrow and provided only for student visa overstayers from the years 2005 to 2010, inclusive. Only 2,153 people have achieved a pathway to regularisation through the scheme. Has the Minister any plans to introduce a scheme that will broadly address the large cohort of 26,000 people, including their family members, who are in the country, and give them a pathway to regularisation? There was recently a public meeting in Limerick on the issue and approximately 250 people turned up. They came from throughout the country to speak about it and we owe them an obligation to address it.

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