The Irish migration system in recent years has been very open, in particular for the purpose of labour migration. In 2003, over 48,000 work permits were issued, following over 40,000 issued in 2002, 36,000 in 2001 and 18,000 in 2000. In addition, there are people availing of the working visa and work authorisation schemes. In this system there are no nationality quotas and migrants have arrived from a wide range of countries, 140 in total. While the work permit system encompasses the entire spectrum of work skills, those arriving in Ireland in recent years have been predominantly at the lower skill levels. In these circumstances, where the State has provided these legal opportunities for migrants, I do not know why any non-national wishing to work in Ireland in recent years would have done so illegally.
While providing ample opportunities for legal migration to Ireland, if we also reward people who have chosen not to take the legal option by "regularising" their situation, we will undermine our system of legal migration. Such a move would also reward any unscrupulous employers who may have used illegal workers to keep workers below legal wage levels or to deny them their employment or other rights. It would also reward those people who have abused the asylum system by entering the State under the guise of seeking asylum and who have tied up resources which should be devoted to those who are genuinely fleeing persecution. I could not justify rewarding this abuse of our system by "regularising" the situation of such persons. To do this would be contrary to the interests of the vast majority of employers and non-national workers who have used the legal channels to come to Ireland and contrary to the interests of refugees.
If a person who is illegally in Ireland wishes to regularise his or her position, he or she should leave the State voluntarily and seek to return through the legal channels.
