Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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322. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the protocols in place for persons living and working here for a number of years without permission and-or documentation; and where national identity documents from their native country may have expired for them to come forward and declare themselves without fear of immediate deportation or the significant disruption of their daily family and working lives; her plans for an amnesty, or form of normalisation, for such hidden persons who in general make a positive contribution to their communities and who have not found themselves in trouble with the authorities, or in breach of the law, except on this one point; and the current position of undocumented persons here, compared to the position of the undocumented Irish living and working in the United States of America. [41490/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is open first and foremost to any foreign national, who finds him or herself in an undocumented situation, to return to their home country and apply to re-enter the State. If people are unwilling to do this they have the option to approach the immigration authorities to seek permission to remain in the State. Such cases would be carefully considered, taking the all relevant circumstances into account, before any final decision was made. An important factor in any such consideration would be the circumstances in which the person concerned became undocumented. In some cases that decision would result in their being granted leave to remain. In other instances they would be required to leave the State and to respect the decision of the Irish authorities.

While I appreciate the Deputy's concerns on this issue, it is the responsibility of all non-EEA nationals who are resident in the State to ensure that they have an appropriate permission from the Minister for Justice and Equality. Most migrants do in fact comply with this condition and obey the State's immigration laws. Any disruption to a person's working life needs to be seen in the context of their having no entitlement to engage in such work.

Ireland has shown itself to be a country that is open to migration and it is quite clear that those who opt to abide by our rules benefit from doing so and we continue to provide a safe haven to those who come here to seek our protection.

I have no plans to implement a regularisation programme for those who are currently undocumented in the State. A programme of this nature could give rise to very large, unpredictable and potentially very costly impacts across the full range of public and social services.I am also conscious that any significant departure from well established policies will invariably have implications for our immigration controls and the smooth functioning of the Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom.

The Deputy might wish to note that at EU Level, the Member States, in agreeing the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum at the European Council in October 2008 made specific commitments "to use only case-by-case regularisation, rather than generalised regularisation, under national law, for humanitarian or economic reasons". While the Pact is not legally binding, the political commitment among Member States, then and now, is clearly against any form of process that would in any way legitimise the status of persons present in the State without first examining the merits of their individual cases. This is the approach that has been consistently followed by successive Ministers in this respect.