Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment is opposed. The effect of it would be to impose a legal obligation on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to publish the guidelines which are to be applied in determining whether leave to remain should be granted to the parents of Irish-born children. The amendment does not just cover the parents of Irish citizen children, it also covers the parents of children who, although born in Ireland after this Bill will come into operation, will not be Irish citizens. It is clear, therefore, that one set of guidelines would not apply in both cases. If the exact same set of guidelines were to be applied in both cases then a certain amount of the clarity which the Bill will bring to the area would be lost.

I presume, however, that the amendment is targeted at, first, those 11,000 parents whose applications were in the pipeline in February 2003, second, those estimated 6,000 or so parents who have had Irish-born children since and, third, those other non-national parents who had children here in the past and who may seek in the future to obtain residence permission should the possibility of their existing permission to reside in some other jurisdiction cease, or, indeed, should they develop a wish to reside in Ireland for other unrelated reasons.

Underlying this amendment is the assumption that the Minister has free rein in regard to these matters at present. That is an incorrect assumption. Section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999 sets out in statutory form a range of 11 different factors which must be taken into account by the Minister in determining whether to make a deportation order. These include humanitarian considerations, family and domestic circumstances, employment prospects, duration or residence in the State and any representations made.

On 18 July 2003, my Department published in the national newspapers an advertisement entitled, "Notice to the non-national parents of Irish born children", which drew attention to these provisions and which provided a lo-call telephone number, 1890 457 032, for persons who wished to discuss them. Since its establishment, over 9,300 calls have been received on that helpline, in some cases from members of the legal profession acting on behalf of applicants.

Furthermore, under section 4(10) of the Immigration Act 2004, the Minister is required to have regard to all of the circumstances of a particular case in determining whether permission to remain should be granted, including, for example, any family relationships with other persons in the State and the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities which the person or the family is likely to have in the future. In fact, when this provision was introduced into the Immigration Bill 2004 by way of amendment on Committee Stage in this House on 30 January 2004, it was unopposed, presumably on the basis that its purpose was to place on a statutory footing the guidelines which would inform the exercise of ministerial discretion. Furthermore, the Minister is required to have regard to the Supreme Court and High Court jurisprudence in the area. For example, the L and O case imposes an obligation on the Minister to have regard to the constitutional rights of the Irish citizen child as part of a family unit.

The website of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform contains a host of information in regard to immigration and citizenship matters. All of this was done not because there was any statutory obligation on the Minister's part to provide it — there is no such obligation — but because it is good practice. The Minister sees no good reason that he should be under a legal obligation to provide information regarding one issue, affecting one class of immigrant in the State, where he is not under a legal obligation to provide similar information regarding any other non-nationals who are resident here or any other such issue. In line with the undertakings he has already given in this House and elsewhere, the Minister fully intends to publish information in regard to claims to remain in the State on the basis of an Irish citizen child. He is not in a position to go further than that at present.

Senator Norris sought concrete news on the matter.