The Irish public “did vote for” the EU Migration Pact when they voted for the Lisbon Treaty, Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said.
During a Dáil debate last night, Independent TD Mattie McGrath put it to McEntee that her government was “hellbent” on opting in to the EU Migration Pact, “when we should be opting out.”
“The Government will not put the question [of this Pact] to the people because it knows what answer it will get,” the Tipperary TD said.
“It got a freagra uafásach in the referendum,” he said, referring to the recently defeated Family and Care referendums.
“So it has decided to just put it to the Houses of the Oireachtas in a set amount of time and to use the Government’s contrived majority to ensure it passes.”
He added: “People are concerned about this further ceding of our national sovereignty to unelected bureaucrats in the European Commission.”
McEntee replied that “this pact is not being forced on anyone,” and claimed that the public had, in fact, voted for it.
“The people did vote for this – they voted for it in the form of the Lisbon Treaty,” she said.
“They did not vote for this,” McGrath shot back.
“The [Lisbon] Treaty clearly sets out that migration is an EU competence,” McEntee continued.
“What we fought for was the option to opt in. The only obligation from a constitutional perspective is that both Houses agree this. That is exactly what we are doing.”
She went on to claim that the Pact was simply about “upgrading and improving” Ireland’s asylum measures.
“To be clear, nothing is being forced upon us,” she said.
“We are deciding to opt into a set of measures that we are already a member of. We have been part of a common European asylum system since 2009.
“This is about upgrading and improving the measures and ensuring that our system is more efficient and effective. The Pact does not force anything on anyone here.
“It will ensure that we are in a position to provide protection more quickly to people who genuinely need it and to return those who do not – there are many – to the countries from which they came.”
Some politicians have raised concerns about the Pact’s potential impact on national sovereignty, with Independent TD Marion Harkin raising this point during a lengthy discussion on the Pact last night in an Oireachtas Justice Committee meeting.
“Areas where we had sole decision-making power, we will pool that decision-making – which does mean we are ceding sovereignty,” she said.
“It’s not unconstitutional. It is constitutional. But we are now ceding sovereignty by pooling our decision-making. Because that’s what the overall EU treaties are about in the first place. And I think it’s important to establish that fact.”
However, other TDs have contested the validity of this argument, with Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell arguing that Ireland signing up to the EU Migration Pact does not create a “sovereignty” issue, because the Irish public voted for the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, having originally rejected the Treaty by referendum in 2008, and then being asked to vote again with certain adjustments.
“The Irish people made their position very clear on this matter – albeit, they had to make it twice,” he said.
“But they still made the decision ultimately in 2009. So the question of sovereignty doesn’t arise.”
He added: “…We haven’t had, for instance, trade sovereignty for quite a number of years as well – nobody is decrying that.”
Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell argues that Ireland signing up to the EU Migration Pact does not create a "sovereignty" issue, because the Irish public voted for the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 (after originally rejecting the Treaty by referendum in 2008, and then being asked to vote again… pic.twitter.com/AectCApwR8
— gript (@griptmedia) April 23, 2024
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Is there any low that these charlatans wont stoop to in the level of contempt they hold the Irish people in? Truly they are the very very worst of Irish society, a destructive sub-class that has betrayed Irelands wellbeing going back centuries.
did helly work as a air hostess for airlingus ,are you virtue signalling to hole world to fly here with that jacket and your new version of Lisbon treaty pulled out of the magic hat , people of Ireland need to go to Dublin and stop this madness NOW 😠
As a Dubliner… I agree if the entire population come to Dublin to finish the Dáil and Senate etc. accept their resignations. Allow the still-president to declare a new transitional government, which he wouldn’t choose, and name a date within 4 weeks for a new election, beginning new from the 1916 declaration. Build a real republic, in which political parties are constrained and TDs are force to consult with his constituents on anything! Party whips are forbidden as a party leaders! The purpose of the regime is now only the destruction of the Irish nation and out future captivity! It is happening in all western states. We should lead the World on this. They will follow our example! The BIG CLEAN-UP! The British would quickly follow suit! Contagion!. 2 Million people would be enough!
We would need to define the constitution, that protects the country, with free speech and the power of the people in a democratic country engrained forever in the first article of our constitution!
Nobody can complain… because it would be the will of the people for the people, by the people!
Vote of No confidence NOW
Gaslighting us.
I remember voting No to the original Lisbon treaty and No again to the ‘amended’ one. However, I know a number of NO voters who wouldn’t vote in the second one as they said it was a waster of time as they would keep ‘amending’ it until we voted yes. I suspect that was a typical response from No voters and had they voted it could have been No again. For McEntee to say there is a mandate in the context of that referendum, is insulting.
Fixed against us!… but I don’t remember anything in the Lisbon about an EU army to start a world war either!
It was actually called the ‘Lisbon Agreement. Why? Because the Dutch and the French voted against the Lisbon treaty. So they made minimal changes and changed the name to ‘Lisbon agreement’. This meant that the French and the Dutch didn’t have to vote again for this, as it was a different ‘agreement’, wasn’t officially a ‘treaty’… only the Irish had it in the constitution and we voted ‘No’. I don’t actually recognise the second fixed referendum!
After our election… they started calling it the a treaty again!
good girl Helen you read that slip of paper giving to you to read out with a straight face ,
also Simon Harris saying last week that UK relations back on track big time and 80% coming across border , ,land in dover with no money and some how you get to belfast then to Dublin, whow like winning lotto dole free house free school Mercedes after few months ,but this is what people want , government told them in 2009 that Ireland can be flooded with few million non Irish in near future, really!!!!
so this government telling porkies again, if I remember Lisbon treaty chat then it was free moment of EU born citizen s moving from country to country fror work and travel, not a freebie culture drain on locals 😠
nice photo Ben of helly,more videos in the articles, my doctor says laughter is good for my depression as I have no one to chat to as almost all of my new neighbors can’t speak English
Yes and then Minister Dick , the most apt name ever, Roche told us a few thousand at most would come.
Yeah I thought that as well – since when is Nigeria, Ukraine, India, Afghanistan etc members of the eu.
Wtaf…. I was not aware the migration pact was listed in the Lisbon treaty, I trust tayto can produce the terminology from the documentation no problems. In fairness they had great for sight to know that they would do the EU migration pact 20 years ago. Now that is proactive. I wonder does she actually believe her own bullshit. Completely up her own hole. I see Freemason Martin is over in the terrorist state pretending he is capable of empathy and human emotions.
I’ve a feeling that McEntee & the rest of the Irish government & Sinn Fein are going to not like the voting intentions of much of the Irish public in the upcoming local & EU elections.
These elections are so important it is vital that they are monitored with an eagle eye.
The only people who would believe that the Irish public did actually vote for the EU migration pact are the sort of people who would hand over their bank account details because they got a phone call telling them they had won the Nigerian Lottery.
What !. You mean its not true that I won ?. The nice man on the phone told me the money would be in my account today. The funny thing was that I won the lottery ticket that won the lottery as I don’t remember buying it.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Mac and Cheese can’t do her job now. The inept amadan! We have 500,000 Irish people living with their parents and 13,000 homeless. Yet she can’t close the borders to alleviate the crushing crisis of housing, homelessness and health. Nor can Woderwick O’Gormless ineptitude!!
A common migration policy might make sense if its core function was to block illegal and economic migration. It doesn’t make sense if EU policy is weak and passive at its borders and simply distributes these immigrants throughout the continent.
The EU claims its renewed framework addresses weak frontiers. But if it doesn’t, immigration will explode as an issue and threaten the very foundation of the union.
It makes sense if you want to import 10’s of millions of people into Europe, legalise them and to distribute them around. It’s designed as to have weak frontiers in order to enable immigration into Europe to explode and to allow it to continue indefinitely.
Fabrice Leggerri, the former Director of Frontex, EU’s Border Control agency, said that the role of the agency had changed from being one of controlling borders to facilitating illegal immigration. He has recently joined the ‘Far-right’ Le Pen party in France.
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban discusses this here in this short clip
$ 0 R 0$
It already is exploding.
The second Lisbon treaty was fixed against the Irish! It was the first referendum that counted. If they run a second referendum, after losing the first one, then you know…. something devious and not in order is coming down!
If you don’t vote correctly in the first referendum then you will get referendum after referendum until you do. That is EU democracy. The only way out is OUT, but as we can see in the UK, there is a large constituency of politicians, public servants and academics, not to mention big corporate names for whom national sovereignty is an obstacle in their pursuit of ever higher profits, who are unswerving in their support of a dictatorial sysem from Brussels. After all, the people are not intelligent enough to make their own decisions.
I heard her on the radio and it was clear she is floundering and had not a clue how this new pact would work. If she believes that this pact is what is required then we all screwed.
Vote NO CONFIDENCE now
More bare faced lies and twisted statements.
She’s really sold, out and desposed of any self respect she had for herself and the country.
It seems to me that the Lisbon Treaty was voted on twice in Ireland which made us the laughing stock of the world. Come to think of it I don’t ever remember voting on Europe attacking another European country or supplying it with military equipment. The EU was set up to stop wars in Europe. Ireland must rid itself of this McEntee lady she is a menace.
Lisbon treaty referendum and the family referendum were the same in the way they were pushed through lies and decete. Now we are finding out what we weren’t told back then. Good luck to any party trying to pass any other legislation in the future.
Opt out. Change org
More barefaced lies & deceit . Why hasn’t she been called to task on the proven lies she told by saying the family & care referendum would have no absolutely impact on immigration.
Firstly nobody voted for the immigration pact in Lisbon,
Secondly , that’s why we have the opt in or out clause
Thirdly what people voted for 15 years ago in 2009 means absolutely nothing
We reject both the nice & Lisbon treaties & 12 months later the vote was put to us again.
We rejected abortion & divorce & within ten years the questions were put to us again.
The precedent is there to put the vote to people again. 15 years is literally a lifetime ago , indeed in justice terms it’s a life sentence.
Give the vote to the people !
Should the UK ever (doubt though as just as signed up to unlimited immigration) but pretend they do, then it would probably end the common travel area across our islands as Ireland would be seen as a route for mass immigration in to the UK. This would be very unpopular with all those Irish who have family and ties with Britain and millions of Britons with Irish ties and family. Does the Irish government ever consider that?
The UK are in a far worse position than us and are much further down the line in terms of mass immigration. Both Labour and the Conservative Parties are fully entrenched and both are Mass Immigration parties. At least we have lots of Independents and true opposition parties popping up. I think the British Media, the Intelligence Services and the political class there have too much of a hold over the population. They aren’t going to have any more referendums. And they don’t really have any cohesive opposition. We should have a chance of creating a Nationalist Alliance.
The UK has just had record level of immigration and has had more immigration from Pakistan last year than in the previous forty i.e legal immigration. They are going full steam ahead.
I can’t see the CTA being abandoned.
If 80% of illegals are coming from Britain via NI, then we really need to reconsider the common travel area, or put up border with NI.
But then again, how are they able to leave Britain if they are not British citizens.
Would visa requirements from countries outside of the EU make a difference.
Out! Out! Out!
That’s right Helen – you know the Irish people are directly against this but you YOURSELF WILL VOTE TO EMMISERATE THEM. You and those like you deserve everything you get and more in the coming years.
REMOVE THESE TRAITORS once and for all at the next election, no quarter to be given
Yarrrr she is a fine boat !
Yes, they are barefaced liars. Here’s a link to a MUST WATCH video that tells it all, clearly and succinctly:
https://youtu.be/WkTmJfKC1Kk?si=44fI6z_EttnAz__j
The general election can’t come fast enough, so we can consign this ghastly woman to the dustbin of history, and a good consignment of her sneaky, treasonous FFG colleagues along with her!
Too late. Not until 2025 or Dec 2024 if a sitting TD becomes an MEP
Vote no confidence in Helen mc entee and roderic o gorman
Vote NO to migration pact and WHO treaty ASAP if not sooner
Then in June vote juniciozsly
The water charges had a much bigger publ8c response
The EU is despotic and profoundly undemocratic. If Ireland is to retain its culture and heritage it has to leave the EU now. The political elite in Ireland and Europe have bought into the NWO / WEF agenda. The wish is to destroy the sovereignty of all countries and have a one world government. To have any possibility of survival we have to leave the EU. God save Ireland.
24 May 2024
Did Catherine Martin lend McEntee the green jacket
Ignorant bullish prat of a politician! You mean when they voted lisbon 2nd time around helen after the EU and irish gov frightened the absolute crap out of people with tales of unemployment and poverty if they voted no again. I’m proud to say i voted no twice like many others i’m sure.
Treaties can always be undone Helen. Go back to ammending your hate speech bill! Be gentle with those crayons!
The Irish voted to be a member of the European Union (good or bad, you can decide), a limited political and commercial alliance of European nations — they did not vote to be the future home of infinity random third worlders.
What’s so difficult about that?
Amazing how underhanded these Marionettes are! Look at the USA. They have just turned totalitarian in a matter of 3 years of Biden, now, by burying the banning of TikTok in the bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan war funding… inside of one day and the dictator Biden signed it and…puff… 170 millions Americans can no longer criticise Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It turns out the Two main Israeli lobbying organisations were behind it! I think this will make Israel very unpopular with a lot of young people! Watch the Zionist von der Leyen follow up in Europe! I am now going to join TikTok! I still watch RT (Russia Today), despite them banning it. It is one of the last bastions of truth left on the EU airways. I can highly recommend it! When will it be the turn of ‘X’, podcasters and Gript? Then the revolution will begin seriously, I would bet! In revolution, they don’t take any prisoners, male or female!
Free speech, Irish Nationalism and the truth will set us free! Not some patronising self-centred liar, who has sold her soul to a crooked political party. Listen to the expressions she uses… it is like she has plagiarised one-to-one the very words that Varadkar uses when taking to the press. Do they give ‘classes for idiots’ on this in Fine Gael?
comimg to a irish border near you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkQYvD0s_t0
also listen carefully to the last question being asked to helen…. its like two fingers up to the irish after voting no in the referendom for durable relationships
Interesting video, thanks.
Obviously, she doesn’t want to answer the question about estimating, per the current agreement, what Ireland’s share of migrants would have been in the past — she repeatedly says (essentially) that non-EU ‘migrants’ are not the same as ‘asylum seekers’ — but really, how many non-EU migrants come legally to the EU, e.g. with some sort of visa they’ve obtained in advance, compared to the number who come seeking asylum? — the former number must be very small compare to the latter — so she is being dishonest here, relying on a technicality in order not give even the slightest hint as to how many asylum seekers Ireland might be obliged to accept in the future under this agreement — because she knows how unpopular the number would be, that it would generate outrage among the Irish.
This video emphasizes that you must be very well prepared when you question these slippery rhetorical liars — you need to be very precise in what you say, i.e. the terms you use, and make sure your numbers are correct, so you give them no room whatsoever to weasel out of answering the question.
McEntee gives me the creeps — she sounds soulless and robotic — as if the Ireland she grew up in could disappear demographically right before her eyes, and she wouldn’t care a bit — the Irish ought to ponder how someone like that ends up in a position of such power and influence.
” how many non-EU migrants come legally to the EU, e.g. with some sort of visa they’ve obtained in advance, compared to the number who come seeking asylum? — the former number must be very small ”
I don’t know what the figures are but many EU countries are importing people from outside the EU on visas including those who come on student visas that some over-stay / get married to a European. On top of that are non-EU who get into Britain on short or student visas and extend them, get British passports and then have access to Ireland (previously they’d have access to other EU countries).
In Ireland I would say that there are many more non-EU immigrants that have come on visas to work/study. There are many non-EU immigrants that have also come via Britain plus some from other EU countries that came on a a British or European country passport that they received after living there a while.
If illegal immigration is clamped down on or eliminated legal immigration will be ramped up.
> importing people from outside the EU on visas
Yes, OK, but my point is that those numbers are, when compared to the number seeking asylum today, and for the foreseeable future, relatively small — inconsequential when it comes to potentially resulting in fairly rapid demographic change in Ireland — also, if you have a visa for a specific EU country, then presumably you have a reason, some incentive, to remain there — and such a visa would normally not entitle you to live elsewhere in the EU — your passport, your nationality determines that — only citizens of EU nations have the right of free migration.
Also, immigration (as opposed to asylum) to Ireland from outside the EU is under the complete control of Ireland — whereas regarding asylum, you are bound to the EU, as this agreement shows.
To me, a virtually uncontrolled and limitless (as far into the future as you can imagine) flow of asylum seekers into Ireland is, at the moment, the far greater threat — and I do not see that changing.
They are both great threats. The current wave of Asylum Seekers enabled by the EU in Brussels, the Migration Pact in the short-medium term.
The long term threat is from legal immigration. It’s not black and white. There are many visa-overstayers and other jiggery pokery involving ex-EU immigrants on short work/student visas aswell. Many differing permutations to avoiding deportation having arrived for temporary stays via the legal route. Watch FF’s new candidate, Ciao Benicio, who was barely in the country a few months when he was made into a folk hero. I’ve a sneaking feeling he’ll be campaigning to ‘legalise’ any Brazilian over-stayers for permanent residence thereby buying votes for FF and opening a permanent conduit for more of them to come.
We’re close to or have already exceeded 1 in 4 of the population being foreign born. Census showed 22% foreign born and it doesn’t account for their children born in Ireland.
Overwhelmingly legal immigration. Over the last 20 years or so. If we get the same for the next 20 years again we will be a minority in our own country.
The asylum shoppers in tents would stop coming tomorrow at the stroke of a pen, if the incentives were removed. The flood of Ukrainians slowed to a trickle when the generous welcome became a lot less generous.
Under the current crop, FF/FG/SF/SD’s/G/Lab/Aontú, it won’t make a difference demographically if they put a complete halt to these asylum shoppers. In fact, it’ll suit them to appear to be putting a stop to it, making a show of deportations happening and so on and drag it out over the next few years. All the while they are doing this, legal immigration will be ramped up. Australia made headlines years ago stopping the boats and off-shoring the boat people in Papua New Guinea for detention and processing.
In parallel with this the Australian Government have ramped up legal immigration to record levels.
Irish Gov, no matter whether it’s FF/FG/SF, will do the same.
30,000 minimum MANDATORY ANNUAL number for relocations, unless we opt to pay hundreds of millions. Mimimum – could be way more than that. Is there anyone at all who’d think a majority of people would vote for this, if put to them in a vote?
As for her assurance that she “can’t see” it ever rising to 5 million – are we really supposed to take that on trust? Is there anything in writing that would limit the numbers, no matter how astronomical they may be?
More “double-speak” by our Government which knows all tooooooooo well that the MIgration Pact would be resoundingly defeated if put to the Irish people.