A Fianna Fail Senator says the government must ensure the undocumented Irish will be home to celebrate Christmas with their families next year.

Mark Daly is the party spokesperson for the Irish Overseas and the Diaspora.

He says with the US Senate having passed an Immigration Reform Bill it is time for the government to increase their efforts to address the issue.

He says Christmas 2014 needs to be the year when the 50,000 undocumented Irish can come home.

Irish politicians held key meetings with members of the US Congress back in October in an effort to win support for immigration reform.

The Foreign Affairs Committee says it was confident it could persuade Irish-American politicians to support the legislation.

A delegation held meetings with both sides of the US political divide.

While back in June, a new law to give legal status to the many Irish in the US illegally was passed in the Senate by 82 votes to 15.

It seeks give legal status to people there before December 31st 2011. It would also, for the first time since 1965, open the way for up to 10,000 Irish people annually to secure a visa to legally work in the US.