Political Correspondent Christina Finn reporting from the United States.
PROGRAMMES WHICH ALLOW people to travel between Ireland the US need to be expanded, according to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
It is understood the Taoiseach raised the issue with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as Congressman Richard Neal while in Washington this week.
Martin said he has always been keen to promote the success of the J1 programme which allows students to travel and work in the US usually over the summer months.
He said more opportunities for easier passage to the US are warranted.
During his time in the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Taoiseach said he was also part of establishing the work-holiday agreement with the United States, he said.
“I believe we need to expand the range and level of programmes between the US and Ireland,” he said.
He said two-way programmes and “legal channels through which people can travel to and from” are needed, he said.
“A different type of migratory flow into the future, which is very much founded and grounded on our economic sort of relationship, but also in terms of the strong academic and cultural relationships developing between the two countries”, he added.
The undocumented Irish in the US is an issue that is raised regularly with the White House over the years.
Sources within Government believe that Ireland is closer than ever to a solution with Joe Biden as US president, given his Irish roots.
E3 Visas
There has been a fresh push to get the E3 Visa Bill over the line in the US.
Two Senators, Dick Durbin and Pat Toomey, have moved to introduce bipartisan bill aimed at allowing Ireland to avail of surplus visas to live and work in America that were originally allocated to Australia.
Access to the E3 Visa Scheme would mean a new batch of US Visas for Irish people. In return, Ireland is to increase access to the labour market for US workers.
A Bill, which was brought forward in the US previously when Donald Trump was president, sought to allow Irish citizens avail of surplus E3 Visas that are specifically for Australians.
It was thought that if passed it could mean up to 5,000 US visas a year could be specifically set aside for Irish citizens.
The Bill was passed in the US House of Representatives, without the need for a vote, but then hit a serious roadblock in the Senate.
It needed unanimous support in the 100-seat Senate because it was being fast-tracked but a “hold” was put on the Bill by a single US senator at the time, Senator Tom Cotton.
US President Donald Trump personally spoke to Cotton about his opposition to the bill.
Speaking about the obstacles to finally getting something done on the issue of the undocumented, the Taoiseach said this week that “it’s been an issue that’s been around for a long time”.
“It came close in more recent times that some years back lost by one vote in the Senate. So it really is on [Capitol] Hill that this has to be resolved. The President himself was very disposed, and is obviously very positive towards this,” he said.
“But we know that migration is a political issue. And there are very strong views on both sides of that debate within the US,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to get one carve out deal from one country. But we are continuing to work on the E3 Visa,” said Martin, before adding: “It’s very difficult.”
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