The Department of Justice has confirmed that more than 1,000 families could be affected by a recent landmark European ruling, which states that the non-EU parents of Irish children must have the right to live and work here.
In March, the European Court of Justice affirmed the right of European children to have their parents live with them.
Since then, the Government has been reviewing past and present deportation cases of parents of Irish citizens.
1,057 cases have been identified where the ruling may apply.
For some, this means a parent who has been deported could be repatriated to Ireland to be reunited with their family.
Of this figure, 135 are before the courts challenging existing deportation orders.
The State will contact all of these to see whether they are now entitled to stay in Ireland.
The remainder are made up of those already deported and those claiming residency at the moment.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter says each case will be assessed individually to see if they have a valid claim to residency.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland is urging the Government to speed up the process as they say splitting up families has caused much hardship.
To ease the transition for families, the Irish Human Rights Commission has called for an administrative residency scheme to explain the process.
