The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has received Cabinet approval for new procedures under which an estimated 17,000 immigrants with Irish-born children may be allowed to make their homes here and become productive and valued citizens. It is a welcome and humane development.
It follows pressure from the Catholic Bishops and various immigration agencies to grant an amnesty to all those who had applied for residency before a Supreme Court judgment in 2003 upheld the right of the Minister to deport families with Irish-born children. The proposals by the Minister fall well short of an amnesty.
The generosity, or otherwise, of the new arrangements will not become clear until they have been in operation for some time. Mr McDowell has consistently maintained that an amnesty would cause chaos in the system and could result in tens of thousands of extended family members of applicants arriving into the State. However, he has also recognised the moral force of granting residency to those families whose children have attended school here for several years and who have integrated into the community.
There is a great deal wrong with our immigration system. It is cumbersome, bureaucratic and expensive. And it needs radical reform if it is to respond effectively to the needs of its clients while, at the same time, upholding the law and providing a quick and humane adjudication process. One of the greatest faults of the system is its denial of the right to work to applicants and the manner in which they are made dependent on welfare payments over an extended period. The number of persons illegally entering the State has halved in the past two years. In spite of that, a considerable backlog of applications still exists under various headings.
The initiative by the Minister should help to change that in relation to residency applications. Those who can show they have not left the State since the birth of their child and are of good character will receive favourable consideration. Successful applicants will be expected to become self-sufficient over a period of five years before being granted permanent residency. They will not, however, be allowed to bring other family members from abroad to live with them.
As a rapidly developing economy with low unemployment rates, it is natural that illegal immigrants should come here. And while the law must be upheld, it should be done in a humane fashion. The thousands who were forced into a legal limbo because of the inadequacies of our administrative system must not be further penalised.