A few months on and who can tell what the response will be now should Dublin knock on Washington’s door asking for a transatlantic version of the kind of bilateral that already exists between the U.S. and several countries, most notably Australia.
A few months on and who can tell if there will even be a response at all.
To put it mildly, the Obama administration is tied up with the task of reviving a moribund domestic economy and creating jobs for an increasing number of American citizens who are losing them. or who have already found themselves standing in the unemployment lines.
That there might be any thought at all spared for comprehensive immigration reform, at least in the short run, seems less and less a possibility. Should the stimulus package hammered out by a divided Congress improve matters to any meaningful degree, perhaps there is a chance of some movement on the reform front. But we won’t be holding our breath.
And that leaves the bilateral, an idea whose time may have come, and may have also passed.
One way of finding out either way would be for the Irish government to raise the matter with Obama administration, perhaps around good old St. Patrick’s Day, a time of year when Irish politicians have a degree of access in Washington that is the envy of many nations.
The bilateral, of course, would not be charity, some economic get out of jail free card for the Irish. It would be a deal that would allow a two-way flow of Irish and U.S. citizens, one that would presumably reflect and further enhance the increasingly close business relationship between both countries.
Nailing such a deal down won’t be easy, and for sure will be a tougher prospect now than six months, or a year ago.
But that’s no reason for the Irish government not to explore the idea with good faith, and a little late in the day determination.