Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many other amendments deserve discussion but five hours of discussion should suffice.

Senator Daly mentioned the undocumented Irish, a matter to which several Senators have alluded. The action must come from the US Government to change its laws to provide visas for the undocumented Irish in that country. I can assure the Senator that irrespective of what speech he quoted, the Government, including the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister of State who has responsibility for the diaspora, has made strong representations to representatives in the US to have these laws changed and to deal with the question of the undocumented Irish. In many instances, the response has not been very positive from both sides of the Houses of Congress in the US when it comes to voting and bringing in proper legislation. There is a still an amount of work to be done. The Irish Government will continue to address the matter and will lobby as much as possible. At the end of the day, it is a question for the US Administration and its legislators to legislate. We cannot dictate what other countries can do but we can suggest what they should do. We do not have the power to tell them what to do. We will continue to lobby the US as much as possible for a solution to the problem.

Senator Bacik raised the issue of votes for Irish citizens living abroad. I am sure the matter will be addressed in future legislation. We will debate the matter, possibly in the next term of Government if we are returned to power. Nobody knows what the outcome will be.