Bush bashing raises Ahern’s
hopes
 Irish
immigrants in the United States may benefit from the mid-term elections
that saw the Democratic Party take control of both the House of Representatives
and the Senate.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern believes the election outcome may
boost the prospects for a deal for some 30,000 undocumented Irish.
Mr Ahern is set to visit the US and has meetings scheduled with immigrant
groups in New York as part of the government’s push to secure a
deal to obtain proper status for them in the US.
The Minister said the elections could help change the climate in the US
and boost the chances of “making positive progress in securing rights
for our undocumented.”
Mr Ahern said he feels the climate might now be more favourable and he
hopes, along with his senior officials, to take soundings on the possibility
of resolving the difficulties in the coming months.
The Irish Government has been lobbying the White House and both the Republican
and Democratic parties for new measures to resolve the legal position
of Irish immigrants.
Meanwhile government relations with the White House will not be affected
in any measurable manner by the massive setback for President George Bush
in the US mid-term elections.
The war in Iraq was thought to be the main reason why voters turned their
backs on the President.
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