Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 February 2014
155. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the contact he has had with key players on Capitol Hill in the US since the publication of the Border Security Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Act of 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7997/14]
View answerThis is an issue to which I accord very high priority. I am conscious of the difficulties experienced by Irish citizens who are undocumented in the United States, and I have met and spoken with many of them on my working visits there, and also with the various groups who lobby on their behalf.
I have maintained contact, both directly and through our Embassy in Washington, with many key players in Congress who are influential in steering the process of US immigration reform. Over the last five months, both the Embassy and I have had direct contact with some 70 Members of the House of Representatives and their staff. These have included Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, Chair of the House Budgetary Committee and former Vice-Presidential nominee; Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and several other leading Republican members of that Committee, including Immigration Sub-Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy; Minority House Leader Nancy Pelosi; Chair of the Congressional Friends of Ireland, Pete King; with House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and their staffs. I have also maintained contact with key figures in the US Administration and with Irish-American community representatives.
I have reiterated throughout all these contacts the Government's interest in all aspects of immigration reform and in particular our interest in seeing an overall agreement reached which provides relief for currently undocumented Irish migrants and a facility for future flows of legal migration between Ireland and the US.
In this context, we very much welcomed the US Senate’s approval of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Bill by a 68-32 margin on 27 June last year.
Following passage of that Bill, the issue has been under consideration in the Republican controlled House of Representatives. Public comments and private conversations which I, the Taoiseach and our Embassy in Washington DC had with leaders of the House Republican caucus, had given rise to expectations that the House would take up consideration of a series of immigration reform bills last autumn. Unfortunately that did not come to pass.
Early last month, further public comments from Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Chief Whip Kevin McCarthy again raised hopes that the Republican leadership in the House saw the need to proceed with immigration reform. To that end, the leadership prepared a set of draft principles that would guide their action on immigration in the House and presented them to the members of their caucus for consideration at a meeting on 30 January 2014.
Informed by that discussion, Speaker Boehner gave a press conference on 6 February in which he expressed doubts that the House would pass immigration reform legislation this year. He did reassert that immigration reform is something that needs to get done and that he would continue to consult his members.
Given that expectations had again been raised, these and other comments are disappointing. However, it is important that we keep our focus on the endgame. The Government through our Ambassador in Washington DC and her team are continuing an extensive outreach and engagement with members of Congress and with the Irish groups and organisations who are lobbying for immigration reform. We are monitoring the ongoing discussions within the Republican Party and continuing to press the case for addressing the concerns of our undocumented and to provide for a future legal flow for Irish immigrants to the United States. The forthcoming St Patrick's Day visits to the United States will provide a further important opportunity to engage with US leaders in support of our immigration objectives and to assess the prospects for the weeks and months ahead. We remain fully committed to the effort to achieve an outcome that addresses the needs of our undocumented and creates a legal path for the future.
