The Government is exploring the possibility of making a bilateral deal with the United States over illegal Irish immigrants in the United States.
Speaking today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said there have been talks with the United States but that the Government wanted to wait and see if the Immigration Reform Bill - which was effectively defeated in the Senate last night - was passed.
Mr Ahern said he greatly regretted that the "courageous efforts of many members of the US Senate to achieve support for a wide-ranging, cross-party bill on immigration reform has not been successful in attracting the necessary level of support to ensure its progress".
He said a lot of countries had bilateral arrangements and that the arrangement the Australian government has with the United States could be used as a model for an Irish deal.
"That has been suggested, but again, a lot of these agreements are not retrospective and may not, in some instances, deal with the undocumented who are already in America. But, again, we have had some advice that this could be looked at to see if we can pick up those who are already in the US," said Mr Ahern.
"The Government is fully committed to responding to the concerns of the undocumented Irish and will continue to take every opportunity to convey to US political leaders the urgent need to address this major issue, which impacts directly on many families in Ireland," Mr Ahern said.
"This setback will not diminish our determination to secure the fair deal for the undocumented Irish and their families," added Mr Ahern.