Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Billy Lawless has been a proud champion of the rights of the Irish in America over many years, and I am proud that he is here to support our Bill because it is utterly consistent with Government policy in respect of our own migrants for many generations.

I am conscious, and I know the Minister will be also, that there are at least two cases currently before the courts on the issue of children’s right to remain in Ireland. They have been born and, through no fault of their own, have grown up and been resident here and yet still face deportation. Therefore, we know these cases are causing legal as well as human problems. That is another reason we say the Government should agree to this Bill on Second Stage and work with us on workable amendments, if it believes it can be improved on, to ensure we see a better legal system in place for these children and their families.

The Government suggests also that a Bill such as this would mean we would be out of line with other EU countries. I take strong issue with that. I am grateful to the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland for its briefing, which I have circulated to all colleagues, along with our own briefing. The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland points out that in 24 of 27 EU member states have regularisation programmes to enable remediation of the situation of children who are undocumented. In Luxembourg, for instance, it is where a child has completed at least four years of compulsory schooling while in many other countries it is a stated number of years in school and-or proof of residency over that period. These sorts of mechanisms are commonplace in other EU countries. In Ireland, we were out of line with other EU countries for many years in failing to provide asylum seekers with the right to work.