Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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338. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the legal status of those undocumented persons carrying out essential front-line services such as care workers will be regularised. [7451/20]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that officials in my Department have been engaging with the NGO sector on the issue of undocumented migrants. I am aware of this cohort of undocumented migrants and the valuable work they undertake in the area of social care.

It is important to emphasise, that when it comes to people living here illegally, the only option for regularisation is on a case-by-case basis. Ireland, along with other Member States of the EU, has committed, under the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum (2008), to a case-by-case approach as opposed to mass regularisation.

In all cases, people must engage with the authorities if they wish to be permitted to remain here legally. I would encourage any person who is resident in the State without permission to contact the Department or their local immigration office and to take all appropriate steps to regularise their own and their family's status.