Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Uasal Cooney. Is breá an rud fear eile de bhunadh an Iarthair a fheiceáil anseo sa Seanad.

On behalf of the Sinn Féin delegation in the Seanad I welcome Mr. Cooney. It is great to see another west of Ireland man in the House. I want to commend him, as have other speakers, for the great work that has been done over the years by him and many others in the area of immigration reform. It is an important area, and I do not think anybody in this House or the Dáil has not been lobbied at some stage by a family who are heartbroken because their relatives cannot come home for a funeral, wedding or to put roots down in Ireland.

He rightfully placed the debate in the context of the debate on the politics of fear around immigration that is spreading worldwide. As he said, we have seen it in Europe and many other countries. It is a sad development at this stage in the development of humankind that there is a fear of the other. We have all been immigrants and all nations have had immigrants at some stage and we have immigrants in this country as well. To see the change in opinion is very unwelcome.

Mr. Cooney mentioned his family history. There are many fantastic stories about Irish people who emigrated to the United States. I was in San Francisco for the Easter commemorations and heard the story of Thomas Desmond, who was a republican who went to San Francisco, was involved in the Catalpa break-out and returned to become a deputy sheriff in San Francisco. He was honoured by the sheriff's department this year. It is another amazing story worthy of a movie or book. There are many such stories across the United States.

We have to recognise the role that has been played by so many politicians over the years. Mr. Cooney and others have named them. The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, Ciarán Staunton, Niall O'Dowd and others who are working with the lobby have also done great work.

I commend Senator Lawless. It is great to see a spokesperson for the diaspora being appointed by the Taoiseach. I had the honour of being the spokesperson for the diaspora for Sinn Féin. Senator Daly has done a lot of work in the area and is continuing to do so. It is important to recognise that. What Senator Lawless said about having to work in a bipartisan manner is crucial. Building a lobby across communities internationally in the United States and Ireland, etc., is really important. I would welcome hearing the thoughts of Mr. Cooney on how we can build that lobby and who we need on board. Politicians, civic society and trade unions have been mentioned. How can we bring our collective might to bear on this issue? I would be very interested in hearing what Mr. Cooney has to say on that.

The debate is framed in terms of the diaspora, undocumented Irish and immigration reform. We also have to recognise the role of the US diaspora in happenings on this island over the past 20 or 30 years. The role played by US politicians in the forming of the Good Friday Agreement, bringing people to the table and putting pressure on the Government in Westminster, in particular, to deal with issues on the island have been very important. The issues are not unconnected. As a lobbyist Mr. Cooney would know that politics is about building relationships and trust over the years, and there has always been trust between our two countries.

I commend the work done by my party leader, Deputy Gerry Adams, and Martin McGuinness over the years. Deputy Adams has been a regular visitor to Capitol Hill and Washington and has met many Presidents. This is an issue he has always raised on his visits, and any of our representatives who travel do the same. Capitol Hill is not the only place where we need to exert influence. There is a network of Irish communities, centres and the GAA across the United States. How can we bring pressure to bear on individual politicians in their home bases? How can we use the Irish network to bring these issues to their attention and show them this is a political issue locally so we can lobby them practically and effectively to ensure they are not afraid of this issue but instead deal with it?

As part of the peace accord, substantial funding has come into Ireland from the Ireland funds. One of the very positive development has been the Fulbright initiative, where Irish and US scholars regularly move back and forth to teach and learn in Irish academic scenarios. There is an academic network, groups of researchers and people who can make theoretical arguments as well as doing research for us. Should we call upon people in those realms to help us?

This issue does not just affect the United States. I was in Canada recently and came across a very sad case where a man who got into trouble in the US moved to Canada and became a Canadian citizen. He has Canadian children, but cannot come home because he cannot fly over the US. His children were recently blocked from flying over the US. They cannot travel to Ireland to visit their relatives and there seems to be very little that can be done unless something is done in Washington.

More important is the role of the Irish Government. We are all based in the Parliament in Ireland. Could we be doing more? How can our Government, whichever party is in power, be more effective in lobbying to achieve what we hope to, namely, to allow the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States to become documented? Does Mr. Cooney think we could argue for any specific dispensation for the case of the Irish, as opposed to anybody else?I look forward to a continuing relationship with Mr. Cooney and working with him in future.