Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We took a very significant initiative at the early stages of this Government to regularise the situation for people who were here for a considerable length of time. The result of that is that thousands of people are legally resident who were in various centres and so on. We are consistently endeavouring to get housing for them and over time, they work with the local authorities.

There has to be balance in migration policy. Our strategy within the US, where some people are undocumented there for between 14 and 20 years, is fair, particularly given the historic links between Ireland and the US. It has worked both ways but historically there is that tie and in my view we should try to develop legal channels between the US and Ireland. When I was in Washington four weeks ago, we signed off on extending the graduate work programme again, which I initiated ten years ago with John Negroponte when I was last Minister for Foreign Affairs. We need more and more legal channels for migration between Ireland and the US.

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