Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the performance of my party's candidates in the by-election. It was a great pleasure for me to canvass with Councillor Duncan Smith in Dublin Fingal and Councillor Joanna Tuffy in Dublin Mid-West. They did extremely well in the by-elections. I commend them. I support the amendment proposed by Senators Humphreys and Nash to amend the Order of Business to bring in the Minister for Health. While we await the Leader's response, it is an important matter. I support Senator Ó Céidigh's point about spousal work permits. Several people have raised it with me over a couple of years. Last week the Taoiseach referred at the American Chamber of Commerce lunch to changing rules to enable spouses of US citizens who have a work permit to also work here. This is a more general issue and it is important that we address it. We are wasting a huge amount of talent among people who are not allowed to work.

I renew my request to the Leader for Government time to debate Committee Stage of our Labour Party Bill to enable residency and citizenship status to be given to children born in Ireland whose parents are not Irish citizens. We in Labour have been pushing this with the Migrant Rights Centre, the Immigrant Council of Ireland and others. It is very important that over Christmas, families have certainty about immigration and residency status, in particular when they have children who have been born and brought up here and who know no other home. At the very least they should be given clarity on their residency status. Our Bill would give them a pathway to citizenship. It is a really important Bill and I would like us to have Government time for that in the new year.