Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore to meet political leaders in Washington

Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore flew to Washington DC Wednesday to lobby for immigration reform.

Among those he was scheduled to meet included Congressman Paul Ryan, Congressman Kevin McCarthy and Senator John McCain.

Gilmore was expected to focus on key Republican figures in the House where the bill is now currently being debated.He is expected to meet with Speaker John Boehner’s Chief of Staff and Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi.

Meanwhile the Ireland America Association was holding a meeting today with public representatives from Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Unionists to form an all island task force to work on behalf of the 50,000 undocumented Irish in the United States.

Senator Mark Daly, Chair of the Ireland American Association and Senate Spokesperson for the Irish Overseas and Diaspora has spoken of this task force "This is the first meeting of a group like this on this issue, and it shows the level of support and commitment of public representatives here in Ireland to help our community overseas. I recently spent 10 days on Capitol Hill holding meetings with Republican Congressmen along with Mr Ciaran Staunton of The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. There is real support for this reform but work still needs to be done and that is why we have organised this important meeting today.”