Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 May 2014
4. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress made this year in securing a legislative compromise in the United States Congress to provide a way of securing the future of the undocumented Irish there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23290/14]
View answerAs all of us in the House know, there are approximately 50,000 Irish people in the United States, commonly referred to as “the undocumented”, who need to have their status regularised. Their current status is extremely difficult for them as they go about their daily business. We must also bear in mind in many instances the hardship and heartbreak for their families at home. The inability of many of the undocumented to travel home for family occasions is truly a burden families should not have to endure. Does the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade envisage any early movement on the legislation in the House of Representatives?
This 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 have met and spoken to many of them during my working visits to the United States. I have also met the various groups which lobby on their behalf. Immigration reform and the challenges faced by the undocumented remain central to our bilateral engagement with the United States. I have raised the issue consistently at meetings, in telephone calls and written correspondence with senior US political contacts. I have instructed Ambassador Anderson and her team, working with the Irish-American lobby groups which have already put in a great effort, to continue their lobbying of Members of Congress and seize every opportunity to make immigration reform a reality.
The issue was also discussed extensively during the Taoiseach’s St. Patrick’s Day visit to Washington DC in March. In addition to substantive discussion of the issues involved with President Obama and Vice President Biden, the Taoiseach also discussed the prospects for progress with a range of other Members of Congress, including the Speaker, John Boehner; Congressman Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary which has responsibility for immigration legislation in the House; Congressman Paul Ryan; the Congressional Friends of Ireland; and Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary that oversaw the passage of the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform Bill last June. The Taoiseach called in the strongest possible terms for Congress to show leadership and deal with the immigration issue.
While we have been encouraged by feedback from Democrats and Republicans indicating that there is a growing momentum for reform, it remains difficult to assess exactly when and how this might occur, not least in view of the upcoming mid-term US congressional elections. The most recent indications suggest there may be some prospects for another push for immigration reform activity at House of Representatives level during June and July. However, the situation is evolving continuously and any prediction needs to be made with caution. In this context, I intend to travel to Washington DC next month for a series of further meetings with key contacts on Capitol Hill, as well as with representatives of Irish-American lobby groups. Although much uncertainty still remains as to how events in the US Congress will unfold, it is important that we continue to demonstrate at a high political level the importance we attach to progress being made on this vital issue and that we position ourselves to best advantage on behalf of the Irish people and their families who are directly affected.
I thank the Tánaiste for his reply and fully appreciate the effort he has made to date. It is welcome that he will be in Washington next month. There have been a number of developments which seem to give some optimism that progress will be made. The Speaker, Mr. Boehner, was recently quoted as stating progress could be made with the Democrats through building goodwill on several unrelated legislative measures. I hope this can be achieved. The New York Times has reported that bipartisan moves between the two sides mean that Democrats in the Senate are seeking Bills unrelated to the immigration issue which they can pass to build goodwill between Republicans and Democrats. It is significant that 250 senior Christian pastors went to Congress to lobby their representatives. The intervention and involvement of senior CEOs of major corporations and chambers of commerce are new dimensions supporting the work done by various lobby groups duing the years. Is the Tánaiste more optimistic now than he was a number of weeks ago about the likelihood of progress being made in the House of Representatives?
Earlier the Deputy mentioned that we would have an opportunity to take questions on foreign affairs and trade issues on 1 July.
Yes.
There is a contest for the leadership of my party and I expect to be in this office until 4 July. I have been giving some consideration to the issues to which I should apply my attention and in the intervening period I intend to apply my attention to two issues which are the responsibility of the Department. They are Northern Ireland to try to have some advance in the window before the start of the marching season in the Haass talks process and immigration reform to see if we can make progress in dealing with the very difficult situation in which the undocumented Irish find themselves in the United States. We are receiving reports that there may be some potential for movement in June and July. I do not want to exaggerate it because we have been here before and there have been false dawns. These are the two issues to which I intend to devote the remaining time I have in office.
I thank the Tánaiste for his remarks and fully agree with him that we all hope to see progress being made on these two issues. I hope that in the next five to six weeks progress can be made. As we have discussed in committee and the House on numerous occasions, much hardship is imposed on individuals and families owing to the current status of more than 50,000 Irish people. There is truly a need for progress to be made. I compliment the Tánaiste and his officials who have persistently pursued the issue at political and official level. If he has an opportunity to do so, I urge him to make contact with Mr. Boehner before his visit to highlight the importance we as a country attach to this issue.
We have met people who are undocumented in the United States. They are working and, in some cases, running businesses. They also have families. They have been there for a very long period and cannot come home for funerals or family events. It is a very difficult issue and across the political spectrum in the United States there is agreement that it needs to be addressed. This time last year I was very hopeful there would be potential to make progress, but last autumn the budget in the United States unravelled and there was a difficult political environment. This made it politically difficult for progress to be made on the immigration issue. We have had a number of positive statements in recent months from President Obama and Speaker Boehner who spoke in May about the possibility of making some progress. We receive feedback and maintain contact all the time through our embassy with Members of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Administration to see where the window is and what can be done. I intend to contribute more to this issue and travel to Washington in the coming weeks to talk to people on Capitol Hill and do what we can at a political level to try to move things forward.
