Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has said he opposes amnesties or regularisation schemes for undocumented migrants because they "send out the wrong message" and can exacerbate the problem of illegal migration.
Mr Lenihan said he had no plans for the introduction of a general amnesty for people awaiting a decision on their status in the State.
In response to a parliamentary question from Labour's Michael D Higgins, he said: "Amnesty or regularisation, in my view, undermines the system of legal migration. They can exacerbate the problem of illegal migration by sending out the wrong message and give rise to a belief that further amnesties will become available in the future."
Mr Higgins said the Minister's "blunt" and "stubborn" refusal to consider an approach adopted in many European countries would disappoint many human rights and religious groups.
"Despite his former colleague Noel Davern's recent assertion that he would not be opposed to the introduction of a regularisation programme in Ireland, Minister Lenihan has said that he is not open to even a consideration of such a proposal.
"In refusing to even consider the proposal, Minister Brian Lenihan is refusing to examine or implement strategies that have been adopted by the Dutch and Spanish governments not for just administrative reasons, but also because of the human rights dimension involved."
This week Mr Davern, a former Fianna Fáil minister, said the Government should examine the option of regularising the status of undocumented immigrants.
