Taoiseach To Focus On 'Undocumented Irish' In US

An Irish-American lobby group has said it believes Brian Cowen is more genuine in his commitment to helping illegal Irish immigrants than the previous Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern was.

Yesterday, the Premier announced the Government would be launching a new drive to resolve the issue of the undocumented Irish in the United States. Mr Cowen was speaking in New York last night, as part of his official visit to the US.

The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) said that while Mr Cowen understands the issues immigrants in America face, the group was left "hanging in the wind" by Mr Ahern.

After an hour long meeting with the Taoiseach, ILIR spokesman Ciaran Staunton said he believed a new era for relations with Dublin had begun. He said: "There is no comparison. Brian Cowen fully understands the issues."

Irish politicians had been campaigning for a special amnesty for illegal Irish immigrants after the United States congress failed to agree on a normalisation process for the millions of undocumented migrants in the US.

Mr Cowen, last night, said Ireland's political storyline was changing from one of "grievance" to one of "acceptance", and its links with the States needed to reflect this.

Referring to a deal which is in the pipeline to ease restrictions on US immigrants in return for concessions on the undocumented, Mr Cowen said it must be more pro-active and subsequently ease restrictions on working visas so that US citizens - in particular young people - can work in Ireland.

(JM/CD)