Proposals on handling applications for residency in the State by non-EU immigrant parents of Irish citizen children in the wake of last week's landmark Supreme Court judgment will be considered by the Government early next month.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said he expects to bring to the Cabinet a "memorandum to Government" on the issue "within the next 10 days or so".
He said he has held a preliminary meeting with officials who will be advising him on the issue, which could have implications for some 10,500 outstanding applications for residency by non-EU immigrant parents of Irish children born as far back as September 2001.
Last Thursday's majority Supreme Court ruling means that non-EU immigrants cannot acquire a right to reside in Ireland purely because they are parents of Irish citizen children. It has been the practice to grant residency rights to immigrants who have parented a baby born in Ireland, even if they would otherwise face deportation.
The Supreme Court verdict means that the appellants, a Nigerian man and a Czech family whose asylum claims had been unsuccessful, can be deported, despite having young children born in Ireland who have automatically become citizens. Thousands of parents in similar situations, as well as their Irish citizen children and non-national siblings, could also face deportation.
Mr McDowell indicated at the weekend that the length of time the parents of Irish citizen children have been residing in the State would be one of the key factors in considering residency applications.
He contrasted this with the "very different situation" of someone coming to Ireland in the eighth month of pregnancy who subsequently makes a residency application.
Asked about how deportations would be effected, given the resources required to escort people from the State, he said: "A lot of people in those circumstances will want to preserve the right to come to Ireland at a future stage. People therefore who realise that they would be facing into deportation very frequently decide to go voluntarily so as to preserve their right to re-enter the country on a visa basis at a later stage.
"I think in many cases parents of Irish-born children would be very conscious of the desirability of not being deported from the State and they would see the attraction of going voluntarily if they are required to do so."
Mr McDowell made his remarks before addressing a weekend conference in Dublin on asylum and refugee law organised by the Bar Council.
Residency status is annually renewable and there are fears among parents of Irish citizen children who have acquired this status that it may not be renewed following the Supreme Court ruling.
Mr McDowell was questioned by a conference participant about potential retrospective application of any new rules to parents of Irish citizens already granted residency status.
He said he did not wish to articulate future criteria, but added that: "A prolonged residence here on foot of a residency permit would be a ground that should move in favour rather than against a non-retrospective approach to this decision."
Earlier, in his address to conference delegates, Mr McDowell robustly defended Ireland's asylum system, which he said was good and true to realities, although not perfect.
He said Ireland has the second highest number of asylum applicants per capita in the European Union, "so those who point to the system and say it is deficient should ask why it is so attractive to so many people".
Around 90 per cent of asylum applicants are found on thorough investigation not to be refugees, but economic migrants, he said. The Government had to reduce its level of overseas assistance this year, while spending €300 million on the asylum system.
The Minister stressed that the great majority of people coming to Ireland are here as legal immigrants and this was constantly ignored.
Last year some 40,000 migrant workers were granted work permits, while there were fewer than 12,000 applications for asylum.
"This country is not operating or has not been operating a 'fortress Ireland' system," he said, adding that it was simply not true that the asylum process was driven by a Government policy of seeking "racial homogeneity".
Meanwhile, Integrating Ireland, the national network of 135 refugee, asylum-seeker and immigrant support groups, held a national forum at the weekend in Athlone, where people expressed concerns about the Supreme Court judgment.
Dr Jean Pierre Ayanga, the project officer of Integrating Ireland said: "A lot of our members will be directly or indirectly affected by the Supreme Court decision and that's why we expressed our concerns about it and have requested more details."