Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has discussed US immigration reform during a number of meetings in Washington with leading Democrats and Republicans.
Mr Martin, who is on a four-day visit to the United States, yesterday met seven US senators and 16 Republican and Democratic representatives on Capitol Hill.
Former presidential candidate Senator John McCain, a proponent of immigration reform, raised the issue of a temporary worker programme for Irish people.
"One of the aspects of the issue that's important is a legal temporary worker programme, and I think it is vital that we have that, where citizens of Ireland can come to the United States in a legal fashion, work and return to Ireland," he said.
"And reciprocally we could have a situation where an American citizen could be a legal temporary worker in Ireland. I think there's a certain area of reciprocity that we could look forward to," he said.
However, the most pressing issue was the fate of perhaps 15,000 undocumented Irish people, out of an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the US. Mr Martin raised the issue with senators Lindsay Graham and Patrick Leahy and congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
The Minister said: "There is a window of opportunity in the springtime. There is work going on behind the scenes . . . we understand, and we accept, that it has to be within the context of a comprehensive response to the issue . . . and we have been in touch with the Hispanic lobby and their representatives in the House and the Senate, and I think there is common ground moving forward on the issue.
“For us it is an important issue, given the fact that a number of Irish people have been undocumented for a very long time and it’s causing real trauma and hardship on families,” he said. It was now clear the Irish immigration issue “will be resolved within the context of comprehensive immigration reform”, along with immigration from Mexico, Mr Martin said.
Although he had “no illusions about how challenging it will be”, the Irish Government hopes an immigration Bill may pass early next year. That was why he was “very keen to keep Ireland’s voice heard in an informed, constructive way.”
With mid-term congressional elections in November 2010, it is unlikely such a controversial issue will be addressed later in the year. Mr Martin said it was “a bit strange that given the long history and bond between us”, there was not a bilateral immigration agreement between Ireland and the US.
He said he hoped a Bill would include a reciprocal agreement that would allow some 10,000 Irish people to live in the US and the same number of US citizens to live in Ireland.
Earlier the Minister spoke to the European Institute in Washington, where he told the audience he believes the Czech Republic will ratify the Lisbon Treaty before a British general election next year, and that the next British government will be forced to honour the Labour government’s commitment to Lisbon.