Well, leaving aside completely the whole question of amnesties for illegal immigrants generally, I fail to see why Irish illegal immigrants in the USA ought to be treated any differently from any other group. (I am speaking as a non-Irish non-American here...)
Christophe, this is the exact reason why this topic bothers me so much. Yes, they've lived there for years and they've built lives there, but so have numerous people from just about every other country. If they were pushing for an all-encomassing amnesty, it wouldn't bother me, it's the whole idea of "Just help us and feck everyone else". You know, it will probably make me sound cold, but if Irish citizens had to come back to Ireland, they'd be returning to a place where they would still have opportunities. How many people from Latin American/African/Asian countries could say that?
Not to mention the blatant hypocrisy of the Irish government given how they are towards immigrants.
Ugh, this is the one immigration topic that really makes my blood boil.