[caption id="attachment_66817" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Taoiseach Enda Kenny meets the ILIR delegation."]
A delegation of Irish American leaders has met with Taoiseach Enda Kenny to discuss the issue of Irish immigration to the U.S. and the lack of access for legal immigrants.
Led by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and including representatives from the New York and North American GAA boards, the discussion ranged over comprehensive immigration reform, future migration flows through an E3 visa program, and the difficulties facing the undocumented Irish in the U.S.
Taoiseach Kenny committed his government to ILIR's goals and made his own personal commitment to press for E3 visas with U.S. Senate and House leaders, and to explore other avenues of reform with the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ILIR said in a statement after the meeting.
"With comprehensive immigration reform far from the horizon, the taoiseach acknowledged that the big barrier for the undocumented Irish are the five and 10 year bars and thanked ILIR for the work that they are doing on the issue," said the statement.
"The taoiseach's message to the Irish in America is to keep hope. ILIR and the Irish government have the best interests of Irish immigrants at heart and collectively they are doing everything possible to work on the matter while staying aware of the barriers that exist to the passage of comprehensive immigration reform," it added.
Former congressman Bruce Morrison, a member of the U.S. delegation, praised Kenny for his commitment to the issue. "Taoiseach Kenny recognizes that this is as much a political issue as a diplomatic one. This is a sea change for the Irish government.
"He is so committed to the project that he has personally appointed a senior person from his political staff to work with ILIR and the Department of Foreign Affairs," Morrison said.
