Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator again. I will point to the very real human stories behind the issue. The Senator knows them at a personal level in Chicago and other places. I met someone who has been in the United States since 1986. To put that into perspective, that was the year I did what was not the junior certificate but the intermediate certificate at the time. That man has remained undocumented since 1986, which demonstrates the real human impact. Another person told me he put his two teenagers on a plane to Ireland, although he could not join them. The Senator knows the stories and has heard the anecdotes too.

The clear message I get from the undocumented Irish in America is there has to be a solution. There is always a solution. I think that is part of the Irish psyche. Our backs have been against the wall many times. I spoke about the tradition of migratory flows on the other side of the Atlantic but these have not been just to America directly but also have been through Canada, as well as to the United Kingdom, in the main, and the rest of the world. It is when their backs are against the wall that Irish people deliver. That is when they try to figure things out. The consistent request that has been made of me in my role is for the Government to sustain the pressure. We are doing it at the highest level. I am open to suggestion from this House and to continuing the relationship with the Senator, whose position offers a vital foothold into American communities. We have to keep this high on the agenda. I am prepared to return to the United States early in the new year to meet communities there again and to keep the issue live.

On a final note and in agreement with the Senator's first remarks, we do live in a different world. It is a world where perhaps minds are dominated by fear, retreat and isolationism. However, the Irish are global in our outlook and confident against the worst of adversity. We also are pragmatic and able to come up with common-sense solutions. Given the 36 million to 37 million people who claim Irish ancestry and the massive amount of business conducted on an east-west basis through foreign direct investment in this country and vice versa, we have a concrete relationship with the United States. There is hope. We have a duty to figure this out and to find a solution.