Bill O’Reilly spent his summer vacation last week in Ireland, and while there he told people he met that he hopes Congress will pass a “fair” immigration bill that would eventually offer legal status to the 50,000 undocumented Irish and all other eligible undocumented here.

O’Reilly has made several trips to Ireland in the past, and wrote his most recent weekly column from Galway.  He traces his Irish ancestry to Co. Cavan.

“I told the good people in western Ireland who approached me that I hoped a fair but tough immigration bill would pass this year. One that will put an end to the porous southern border and make undocumented aliens earn their citizenship over an extended period of time,” he wrote.

“The most powerful nation on earth should be able to pass a fair, effective immigration law that combines compassion with responsibility and does not injure hard working Americans who are taxed up to here.  We SHOULD be able to do that. It will be shameful if we don't.”

On his site, www.billoreilly.com, the Long Island-born Fox News star posted several photos of himself outside Irish castles and other scenic spots.  In his column he wrote about how the Irish helped to build America back in its formative days, and also called out the British for their role in perpetuating the Irish Famine.

“In Ireland itself, more than a million people died from hunger and disease during the Famine years. The British controlled the country and, incredibly, exported grain to London even as Irish children were dying in the streets. British soldiers actually had to guard the grain stores killing the Irish who stormed the storage facilities,” he wrote.

“Thus, there are still deep wounds in this country of less than five million.”

O’Reilly said that many Irish people approached him during his visit to Ireland to ask about the possibility of immigration reform.

“All favored it because of the sensitivity to the suffering of poor people,” he noted.

“The intense debate over immigration reform in the USA has riveted many in this bucolic area in the west of Ireland. That's because in addition to millions of Hispanic aliens, a significant number of Irish would benefit from immigration clarity. Just ask anyone in the Woodside section of Queens, New York.”

O’Reilly is due back on his top-rated Fox News show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” this week.   His massively successful book “Killing Kennedy” currently sits at number 15 on the “New York Times” bestseller list, while  his latest work, “Keep it Pithy,” is two behind at number 17.