Residency Permits

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2013

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Questions (448, 449, 453, 455)

Eric J. Byrne

Question:

448. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his position in relation to an earned regularisation scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54178/13]

John Lyons

Question:

449. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if his Department has given consideration to an earned regularisation scheme for undocumented migrants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54217/13]

Patrick Nulty

Question:

453. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will introduce an earned regularisation scheme for the 30,000 undocumented workers living here. [54345/13]

Finian McGrath

Question:

455. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will support the proposal for an earned regularisation scheme for undocumented emigrants and their families living here which will pave the way for permanent residency status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54385/13]

Written answers

Minister for Justice and Equality

I propose to take Questions Nos. 448, 449, 453 and 455 together.

I am familiar with the ongoing campaign in this area but at present my Department have no plans to introduce any form of a so-called earned regularisation scheme. It remains 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 and the great majority of migrants comply with this condition. It does not follow logically that the solution to illegal migration is for the Irish State to reward those who engage in it.

If a person is undocumented his/her case can be considered on its merits by officials in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of my Department and part of this consideration involves looking at the extent to which the person's situation is through no fault of his/her own. Sometimes this consideration will result in a positive outcome for the applicant. In other cases, the decision by the Irish authorities, subject to the oversight of our Courts, would be that the person has to go home. That decision should be respected.

Broad regularisation programmes are problematic. They could give rise to unpredictable and potentially very costly impacts across the full range of public and social services. 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 those unlawfully present without first examining the merits of their individual cases. In our case there are also significant considerations based on maintaining the integrity of the Common Travel Area with the UK which must be taken into account.

Any significant departure from well established policies in this respect would have a major impact on the operation of the Common Travel Area both here and in the United Kingdom.

Finally, I note that a figure of 30,000 is cited on the number of illegal immigrants in the State; by definition it is impossible to state with any accuracy the number of persons without lawful permission to remain in the State and in this respect, Ireland is no different to any other country.