Let's pick up the Aussies' cast-offs

Congressman Bill Delahunt

gave a rousing speech in support of Irish immigrants to the US last night at the launch in Boston of the Irish Network.

He said the E-3 Viss programme should be extended immediately to take in the Irish, noting that his own constituency in Massachusetts is "the most Irish" in the entire United States.

Ireland has a J Visa arrangement with the US which is all but meaningless. It's been extended to allow graduates to spend year in US but they must then return home, exactly about the time when they picked up some knowledge about the place and are ready to make a contribution.

An E-3 Visa on the other hand is a work visa which guarantees a Green Card which in turn can be a path to citizenship for those who want it.

I caught Congressman Delahunt's speech on video iphone and chatted with him after the event. He is convinced the established Irish need to do more for the undocumented and to achieve this E-Visa programme.

If push comes to shove, of course, we could always to to the Australians and ask them to let Ireland pull up their slack. Australia has about 10,000 E-Visas for its citizens each year and only uses about 2,500. Seems like a good opening and after all, they owe the Irish too.