The Children's Rights Alliance has said foreign parents of Irish born children granted leave to remain here under a 2005 scheme still face an uncertain future, despite today's announcement of a renewal scheme by the Government.
The alliance says the announcement by the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, that up to 15,000 parents are due to renew their application under the Irish Born Child scheme lacked detail and transparency.
Gillian Van Turnhout said many families spent a nervous Christmas wondering if they would still be here next year and today's announcement did nothing to help that.
She said there were still no details about the assessment process or the criteria involved.
17,000 people were granted leave to remain in the State under the scheme which was introduced after the citizenship referendum ruled out automatic citizenship for Irish born children of non-Irish parents.
However those granted leave to remain must now renew their applications to be allowed to stay for a further three years, except those from Romania and Bulgaria who are now EU citizens.
However the Children's Rights Alliance said it was still unclear if those 2,000 parents would be allowed to work here.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has also said it would have concerns about the renewal process for the scheme as the criteria could be unfairly applied to lone parents.
A spokesperson for the Council said the requirement for applicants to become economically viable could not be expected of lone parents, some of whom were prevented by government policy from being supported by their partners who are no allowed to join them here.
