AROUND half of workers on New York building sites are Irish, according to a top city official, who added that immigration reform is now firmly on the political agenda.

In a throwback to the 1980s, it is believed significant numbers of out-of-work Irish labourers are going to the US in search of work.

New York human rights commissioner Patricia Gatling told the Sunday Tribune that new Irish business associations are starting up to assist the inflow of Irish immigrants. She also said a new visa scheme is a possibility.

"If you go to a construction site in the city, half the people working there seem to be Mexican and the other half - who are doing the more skilled work ? are Irish," Gatling said.

"For the most part, even when the housing market went bust, we were still building in New York. Hotel building there is ongoing and this kind of work is highly sought-after.

Gatling was in Ireland for a Trinity College conference organised by Colm Kearney and Brian Lucey on the intersection of business and human rights.

She said the new wave of Irish immigration was very welcome in New York and the city's mayor Michael Bloomberg believed that, in pushing for immigration reform, the influence was positive. "He wouldn't have a problem with that [a new wave of immigrant Irish] at all because he has gone to Washington and talked about legalising all the illegal Irish that have come to New York already," she said. "It has been discussed that the [current visa system] was not fair to them.

"They have figures on numbers of people who come from different places and no one can say why the numbers from Ireland are so low compared to other places.

"So the talk is that there has to be a revamping of the immigration system. For the most part it's not fair; it needs to be revamped," she said.

"I think there is plenty of room for people to come and work and it's what everyone already says."