A group opposing the State's deportation of non-national families with Irish children has welcomed the decision by the Government to discuss proposals for granting residency to such families.
Under the proposals, thousands of immigrants who have claimed residency here as parents of Irish-born children will be allowed to make new applications to remain in Ireland.
The Irish Timesreports today that applicants who can prove their identity, show that they have not left the State since the birth of their child and who are of "good character" would be given favourable consideration.
The Coalition Against the Deportation of Irish Children (CADIC) said the news would be a "welcome message" for families whose lives had been on hold for at least two years.
"It should be recalled that for the vast majority of these parents, they came to Ireland lawfully and had applied for residency under a system established by the Department of Justice.
"Their children were born here before the government decided to change policy. They have faced nothing but uncertainty and anxiety and this will at least offer them some hope that this limbo will end soon," said Ms Salome Mbugua of AkiDWa, a body affiliated to CADIC.
Ms Aisling Reidy of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the group looked forward to examining what it hoped would be "a transparent, fair and human rights based policy".
"The proposals could offer a real opportunity to bring to an end what has been an unnecessary and unjust policy. While there are many details to be resolved, we will be looking to ensure that the proposals guarantee full respect for the constitutional and human rights of the families."
The Labour Party spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello, called on the Government to end the uncertainty without delay.
"Since the decision of the Supreme Court in January 2003 in the L & O case that non-national parents of Irish born children have no automatic entitlement to live in this country, thousands of people have been living in fear of deportation and being forcibly separated from their children," he said.
Mr Costello said their fear and uncertainty was exacerbated by the citizenship referendum, which he said was "introduced by the Fianna Fail/PD government to coincide with the local and European elections".
He added that the manner in which these people had been treated emphasised the "absence of any coherent immigration policy" on the Government's part.