Dail Agrees on Motion

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Dail Agrees on Motion

November 7, 2007

By April Drew

THE Irish undocumented in the U.S. were the focus of a Dail (Parliament) debate in Ireland on Tuesday. The debate was instigated by the opposition party, Fine Gael, and in the afternoon a joint motion was issued by the party and government leaders Fianna Fail on behalf of the undocumented.

Fine Gael are calling on the government to secure a similar deal to the existing bilateral agreement between Australia and the U.S., which allows 10,000 Australians to work in the U.S. annually while citizens of the U.S. are also granted equal number of Australian visas in return.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny called on the current government to guarantee that all political and diplomatic efforts will be made at the highest level to secure a bilateral agreement between the island of Ireland and the U.S..

Fine Gael would like to see a deal happen in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. A major economic conference hosted by the U.S. takes place in Belfast in May of 2008 on the anniversary.

Such an agreement, according to Fine Gael would deepen the social and economic ties between both countries, help regularize the Irish undocumented situation in the U.S., once and for all, establish a system of renewable non-immigrant visas between both countries and facilitate citizens of the U.S. and most specifically members of the Irish diaspora who wish to live and work legally in Ireland.

Fine Gael Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs spokesperson, Michael Ring said it was welcome that a joint motion would now be presented to the Dail which he hoped would attract the full support of the House.

“I welcome the government’s agreement to our proposal for a bilateral arrangement between Ireland and the United States and I look forward to the full support of the Dail for our agreed motion. There is real window of opportunity now for the Irish government to push for such an agreement and it is encouraging that it should do so backed by cross-party support,” he said.

“The next step is for the taoiseach (prime minister) to set an early date for a trip to Washington to try and close this deal which has the potential to resolve the difficulties of the undocumented Irish in the States as well as benefiting Irish and American citizens who want to work and travel between our two countries.”

The motion formally recognizes the difficulties facing the undocumented in the U.S., and calls for a “new reciprocal immigration arrangement between Ireland and the U.S.”

It also “supports ongoing discussions at the highest level with the U.S. administration and Congress to establish reciprocal bilateral arrangements which would benefit Irish and American citizens seeking to work and travel in our two countries.”

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