Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the initiatives and efforts being made by US Senator Edward Kennedy regarding the treatment of 292 Montserratians resident in the United States whose temporary protected status has recently been rescinded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13546/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In a reply in the House on 8 March 2005, I said that Senator Kennedy, joined by Senators John Kerry and Charles Schumer, had written to President Bush to urge a reversal of the decision by the US Department of Homeland Security to terminate the temporary protected status granted to 292 refugees from Montserrat allowing them to reside in the US. This status was granted following the major volcanic eruption in 1997 which destroyed much of the island of Montserrat. Senator Schumer had also sponsored a Senate Bill to provide relief for the Montserrat group and a similar measure has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

The US Department of Homeland Security maintains that the conditions in Montserrat no longer meet the criteria for temporary protected status. They state that one of the criteria for this status, on the basis of natural disaster, is that both the disruption of living conditions and a country's inability to accept the return of its nationals be temporary in nature. The Department of Homeland Security refers to scientific estimates that there is a 50% chance that the volcanic activity in Montserrat will continue for another 14 to 15 years and may continue for decades. Its position is that the situation in Montserrat is, therefore, not temporary and that the temporary protected status of the 292 persons in question ended on 27 February 2005. The Department of Homeland Security points out that not all of these persons are subject to early removal from the US, as some will continue to benefit from other non-immigrant status. They also point out that people from Montserrat are eligible to apply for British citizenship based on their status as British overseas territory citizens.

I understand that the current position is that efforts to secure a deferral in any enforced departures amongst the Montserrat group continue to be made. Any decision on this is, of course, a matter for the US authorities but, as I have previously said, we very much appreciate the humanitarian impulse underlying the initiative taken in this case by Senator Kennedy and his colleagues.