Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 March 2023
74. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on his recent visit to the United States and efforts he made to regularise the status of the undocumented Irish living there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13894/23]
View answerI ask the Tánaiste to report on his recent visit to the United States of America and the efforts he made to regularise the status of undocumented Irish living there and if he will make a statement on the matter. I appreciate that my question is quite similar to the previous one but I will try to place a different dynamic on it in response to the Tánaiste's answer.
Addressing the status of undocumented Irish citizens in the United States remains a priority for the Government and is raised on an ongoing basis in our engagements with the Administration and political leaders in the United States.
The Taoiseach raised immigration matters directly with President Biden during his visit to the White House on St. Patrick's Day. I also discussed immigration extensively in meetings with Members of Congress during my most recent visit to Washington D.C. last month and over the last week in meetings with various political representatives, particularly Mr. Richard Neal. Ireland's Embassy in Washington D.C. and our network of consulates general across the United States continue to monitor the situation closely and to engage with US officials on immigration issues. They also actively support Irish community groups that provide assistance and information to Irish citizens living in the US, including those who are undocumented. Our missions also continue to seek ways to improve the day-to-day lives of our undocumented citizens on practical issues such as securing driving licences, accessing free legal advice and securing healthcare.
Last week, during my St. Patrick's Day visit to New York and Massachusetts, I visited the New York Irish Center, Solace House in New York, as well as the Irish Pastoral Centre in Boston, where I had the opportunity to hear first-hand about the vital services and support provided to our diaspora, including undocumented Irish citizens, by organisations which receive support from the Government's emigrant support programme. I also discussed ongoing efforts in Congress to secure legal immigration pathways with Congressman Richard Neal, whom I met at the Irish Cultural Center of Western New England, which is another emigrant support programme partner. Mr. Neal is co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Ireland and has been a steadfast advocate for the undocumented Irish in the US over the years.
In addition to participation in the traditional elements of St. Patrick's Day celebrations in New York and Boston, I had numerous business and community engagements, as well as meetings with interlocutors at city, state and governor level. It was a fairly packed schedule. I will not go through the list of all those I met but I can forward it to the Deputy.
I appreciate that. I followed events quite closely and understand the importance of the visit. I should give forewarning that at the end of my contribution I will turn my attention from the situation of the undocumented Irish in the US to the situation of undocumented people here in Ireland.
This time last year the Minister for Foreign Affairs made it clear that the situation of undocumented Irish immigrants in the US was a key priority for the Government. He said that the focus was on securing legal pathways for those seeking to live and work there and that the Government continued to urge the US to create pathways for undocumented migrants to secure citizenship and to change immigration policy to award visas to people from Ireland who wished to live and work in the US.
The Government's stance on Irish migrants is very clear and very honourable and is one that I support fully. Last year the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, said that everyone in this House wants the same outcome, which is to find a way of regularising the lives of Irish people living in the US in the shadows. In that context, why does the same Government refuse to regularise the lives of migrants who are living in Ireland under the exact same conditions? Does the Minister agree there is a degree of hypocrisy here? We go to the US seeking to regularise the position of Irish people there but are unwilling to do the same for people living here in Ireland who would like to regularise their situation. How do we regularise people here who seek the same terms as their Irish counterparts in the US?
We have done so.
Only for six months.
No, we took an initiative last year whereby we had an amnesty. That was regularising people.
Yes, exactly. That was wonderful. Should we not continue with that?
The Deputy said we had not regularised people.
No, no.
We took a very significant initiative at the early stages of this Government to regularise the situation for people who were here for a considerable length of time. The result of that is that thousands of people are legally resident who were in various centres and so on. We are consistently endeavouring to get housing for them and over time, they work with the local authorities.
There has to be balance in migration policy. Our strategy within the US, where some people are undocumented for between 14 and 20 years, is fair, particularly given the historic links between Ireland and the US. It has worked both ways but historically there is that tie and, in my view, we should try to develop legal channels between the US and Ireland. When I was in Washington four weeks ago, we signed off on extending the graduate work programme again, which I initiated ten years ago with John Negroponte when I was last Minister for Foreign Affairs. We need more and more legal channels for migration between Ireland and the US.
I agree with about 90% of the Tánaiste's contribution. We are on the same page in many ways. Every year we see the Irish Government, including the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, go to the US to try to create pathways and to advocate for Irish people who have gone to the US, who are contributing to that country through their work and through raising their families and who have made and continue to make a substantial contribution. What of a Georgian person coming to our country who also wants to work here and to raise a family, or a person from Albania? The latter country is on an EU accession pathway but its citizens have little or no access to a working visa platform. Last year, for example, the Irish State offered eight working visas to people from Georgia to enable them to come here to work and make a contribution. As we go to the US and advocate for Irish people there, should we not also reflect on our own situation?
I agree that many people benefited from last year's regularisation platform but it lasted only six months. Why do we not extend that, open it up again and afford the same security of citizenship to people who want to come here, work, contribute and build a life?
There has to be a balance with migration policy. We are in a situation now, because we are in the European Union, where there is complete mobility among the 27 member states that are home to close to 450 million people. That mobility actually extends beyond the EU and includes the European Economic Area, EEA, countries as well. We allocated 40,000 work permits last year and we had the regularisation scheme before that. There are limits in terms of sustainable and manageable levels of migration. People can apply for economic work permits. There are systems in Ireland. It is different from how the US operates. If someone is caught living illegally in the US, he or she is put on a plane and never allowed to return. We have similar regulations on deportations in some respects but they are rarely applied. Deportations are the rare exception rather than the norm here, if we are honest, but we do create pathways in Ireland for people to access work. There is a work permit system through which people can apply so in that sense, comparisons with the US are not valid.
They are valid.
They are not valid at all because there are Irish people undocumented in the US for 25 years and more.
There are people who were born here who have not been regularised.
There was a very significant amnesty scheme announced so I am not clear why they would not have been regularised in the context of that scheme.
