Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern is to travel to the United States today as part of final efforts to ensure up to 50,000 undocumented Irish can remain there.
The Minister will meet senior officials involved in drawing up new legislation on immigration reform, including Senator John McCain.
Mr Ahern will also meet leading lobbyists pushing to ensure the undocumented Irish can stay in country.
He said he planned to use the 48-hour trip to lobby as many people as possible, adding "I left it to the last minute to see what the lie of the land was.
"And I just feel that given the importance of getting as good a proposal out of the Senate as possible, and to be fair to all concerned, and indeed President Bush has been very instrumental in effect in knocking heads together.
"I just want to go there to give an Irish perspective to the situation because for a long time a lot of Americans didn't even realise there was an Irish aspect to this issue."
The US Senate this week began considering the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. The proposed legislation creates a system of penalties for foreign-born residents who entered the country illegally, but it also allows up to 12 million illegals to get on a path to eventual citizenship.
It is hoped the Senate may finish their discussions on the matter towards the end of the week before the Bill is finalised in June.
PA