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

There has to be a balance with migration policy. We are in a situation now, because we are in the European Union, where there is complete mobility among the 27 member states that are home to close to 450 million people. That mobility actually extends beyond the EU and includes the European Economic Area, EEA, countries as well. We allocated 40,000 work permits last year and we had the regularisation scheme before that. There are limits in terms of sustainable and manageable levels of migration. People can apply for economic work permits. There are systems in Ireland. It is different to how the US operates. If someone is caught living illegally in the US, he or she is put on a plane and is never allowed to return. We have similar regulations on deportations in some respects but they are rarely applied. Deportations are the rare exception rather than the norm here, if we are honest, but we do create pathways in Ireland for people to access work. There is a work permit system through which people can apply so in that sense, comparisons with the US are not valid.

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