The immigration, residence and protection Bill will put on a statutory basis valuable schemes to allow undocumented people in this country to get back into the immigration system. There are similar schemes in place in the United States for undocumented Irish people. The difficulty is that, to access those schemes, the undocumented Irish must return to Ireland to have a visa issued to them, which means they are then hit with a three-year or ten-year ban for having been illegally resident in the United States. A waiver system has been introduced in Mexico. The introduction of a similar waiver system here would address the problem for about one third of the undocumented Irish in the US. I understand a letter has issued from the Government to the US ambassador in regard to the establishment of such a waiver scheme here. When was that letter sent to the ambassador? Does it formally request the lifting of the visa ban and the introduction of a waiver scheme here to address this anomaly for the undocumented Irish in the US?

The Deputy should address that matter by way of parliamentary question.

I do not have the precise information the Deputy is seeking. The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers will be raising these issues during their forthcoming visits abroad. We have had a lengthy involvement in relation to immigration reform, and in this regard we welcomed the announcement by President Obama in November. This is an issue on which the Government is very much engaged.

Does the Minister know whether a letter has issued?

I do not have that information, but I can get it for the Deputy.