The retirement of Senator Edward Kennedy from the immigration subcommittee in the Senate is certainly a setback for immigration reform.

However, the senator's retirement was widely expected and it was clear because of his unfortunate illness he was not going to be a major player on this issue any longer.

He has performed sterling work on the subject and created major opportunities for reform, but the political grandstanding of opponents made it impossible for him or his Republican co-sponsor Senator John McCain to deliver final passage of a comprehensive bill.

It is unlikely in the new Congress that we will see such a "one size fits all" approach to immigration reform. The notion of a huge overall bill passing has become more remote because of the mixed passions that the issue arouses.

Even though we will have a new president in Barack Obama, the fact is that the spadework for immigration reform still begins in the House and Senate.

Many immigration advocates there see the opportunity to bring about change but in a piecemeal fashion rather than in the one big bill.

That may be the wiser attitude to take by far. Any significant immigration change still needs a veto proof majority in the Senate, which means 60 votes.

Inevitably some Republican support will be needed.

In this respect that doughty warrior McCain has made clear that he is interested once again in co-sponsoring immigration legislation, possibly with Patrick Leahy, the Vermont senator who is head of the Judiciary Committee and is showing interest in immigration matters.

Freed from the clutches of his own right wing on the issue, McCain may well be one of the most creative problem solvers on the question.

Republicans have to be aware that their utter failure to win Hispanic votes in the recent election was due in large part to their hostility on the immigration issue. The level of vitriol hurled at the Hispanic community was such that the Republicans may have lost them for a generation.

Finally now the voices of moderates such as McCain may be heard, and a sensible policy towards immigration adopted.

Not that President-elect Obama will be out of the picture either. Recently he named Cecilia Munoz, a Detroit native and University of Michigan graduate, as White House director of intergovernmental affairs.

Munoz, the daughter of Bolivian parents, was also vice president of La Raza, the major Hispanic lobbying group. Her presence in the White House surely gives a voice to the undocumented within the administration, which was conspicuously lacking in the George W. Bush era.

In the Irish case, the Irish government continues to work with its U.S. counterparts to try and ensure that future generations of Irish will not come to the U.S. illegally, and that those here can benefit from any legislation.

It has been an uphill struggle, but we must remember that the Morrison visa program took over six years to bring to fruition.

While the loss of Kennedy is a blow for sure, there is no question that the landscape looks far more favorable now than it did during the final years of the Bush administration.

Now at least a Democratic president and Congress are coming into power knowing that the Hispanic vote in key states played a large role in putting them there.

We will await with interest the new legislative session and the interest in finally putting the immigration issue to rest in a comprehensive way.