Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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191. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons who are working in the country illegally; and, if the assumed number is considerable, if he is considering granting any form of amnesty in this area. [7318/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Accurately estimating the number of illegal migrants working in Ireland is immensely difficult due to the clandestine and covert nature of the activity. In this respect Ireland is no different to any other jurisdiction. As a consequence, there no reliable estimates for this category of migrant worker. I do not therefore propose to make what would be essentially a guess at the figure. I have no plans to introduce an amnesty or any other scheme to legalise the residency of undocumented and illegally present foreign nationals in this State. It is the responsibility of all non-EEA nationals who are resident in Ireland to ensure that they have an appropriate permission from the Minister for Justice and Equality.