The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was urged by the Fine Gael spokesman on tourism, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, to raise with President Bush the case of the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States.
Mr Deenihan said he was deeply concerned about the status of Irish immigrants who arrived in the United States after 1995. "The allocation of green cards since that time has been minimal and has, therefore, failed to reduce the number of undocumented Irish," he said.
He added that, while making a valuable contribution economically and socially in the US, the many undocumented Irish faced much hardship under current immigration legislation and could not risk travelling home for significant family occasions.
