Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if officials in his Department have given him an update on progressing improvements for the undocumented Irish in the United States of America. [52098/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government continues to avail of all opportunities to raise US immigration reform and the status of the undocumented Irish with the US administration and with contacts on Capitol Hill. Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, working both here and in the US, are engaged on the issue on an ongoing basis and I am kept fully informed of developments.Neither I nor my Departmental officials, however, underestimate the size of the challenge facing us.

This policy area has been a deeply divisive issue within the US political system for decades, with pronounced disagreement, even within the same political parties, on the best way to deal with an issue which directly affects over 11 million people.

The Government, at both political and official level, has consistently engaged with both parties in a bipartisan way to address our longstanding concerns and this continues to be our approach.

For my own part, during my visit to New York for the UN General Assembly in September, I met with representatives of the four Irish Immigration Centres in the region and a representative of the US-wide Coalition of Irish Immigration Centres.

In addition, I met with a senior State Department official during that visit and I was able to further emphasise the Government’s commitment to this issue when I travelled to Washington DC on 3-5 October.

The Government’s special envoy to Congress on the undocumented, Deputy John Deasy, accompanied me on that most recent visit and together we engaged with senior members of the US administration and with members of Congress, including the Congressional Friends of Ireland Group.

Outside of my own engagement on the issue, Deputy Deasy has visited the US four times since his appointment, in July, September, October, and November.

In addition to contact at political level, officials from our Embassy in Washington, D.C., stay in regular contact with the administration and with congressional contacts on both sides of the aisle.

Our Ambassador in Washington D.C., Dan Mulhall, hosted a round table discussion on the issue on 25 October with Irish community key stakeholders, including the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centres.

Ambassador Mulhall and his colleagues in the Embassy continue to give this issue their close attention, updating me and Departmental officials on an ongoing basis.

The Government remains wholly committed to working with the US authorities to resolve the plight of the undocumented Irish, while respecting the right of the United States to set its own immigration policies.

The Deputy can be assured that officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, both here and in Washington, D.C., will, under my direction, continue to give priority to this issue, mindful of its importance to the undocumented themselves and their families back here in Ireland.