Washington, D.C. ? Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, at the White House to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, said Friday that he hoped the U.S. Congress would embrace President Bush’s immigration proposal that would affect illegal Irish immigrants in the United States.

“The resolution of this issue would mean enormous amounts to so many Irish men and women,” Ahern said of the 50,000 to 70,000 illegal Irish immigrants in the United States. “I fervently hope that they will, in the not too distant future, be able to step away from the shadows and into the sunshine of this great country.”

In a traditional trek to the White House on St. Patrick’s Day, Ahern gave Bush a bowl of shamrocks, a symbol of warm relations with the U.S.