In response to a Leaders’ Question from Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín in the Dáil, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said that he did not know how much the EU Migration Pact will cost Ireland, but that he believed the country would overall be the better for it.
Peadar Tóibin said it was “an astounding admission” and that an Taoiseach had “given a political commitment to sign up to an EU Migration Pact without knowing how much its going to cost the people of Ireland.”
“You are writing a blank cheque, your first as Taoiseach,” he claimed.
Speaking in the chamber yesterday, Deputy Tóibín told the Dáíl that he believed “the immigration policy of this government has been a disaster.”
“You have failed consistently to differentiate between those who need help and those who don’t. Aontú pqs have shown that in the last 5 years 85% of those who received a deportation order never had it actioned. We found out that last year 5,000 people came through Dublin airport with no travel documents. We found out that the government is not even asking 75% of asylum seekers how they came into the country,” he said
“Now you seek to outsource management of immigration to the EU”.
The Taoiseach has admitted to me today,
that he does not know, what will be the cost to Ireland of the EU Migration Pact.
This is a stunning admission.
They have given their political support to it without working out the costs. pic.twitter.com/j7bpkWJRP2
— Peadar Tóibín TD (@Toibin1) April 17, 2024
“At the heart of the Migration Pact is the idea of a ‘mandatory Solidarity Pool’. States must accept immigrants or financially contribute. Numbers and amounts of money is based population and GDP. Our GDP is artificially elevated due to the onshoring of FDI profits for tax purposes and secondly in case you have not noticed the state is finding it impossible to accommodate the numbers who are coming into the country. Given the fact that Ireland is getting fined all over the place by the EU what is the minimum and maximum cost to this country of the EU Migration Pact”?
Replying, Taoiseach Simon Harris said: “When it comes to migration, it is fanciful in the extreme to think that this small little island with, thankfully, an open border – which we all worked very hard to protect during the Brexit process – could just go it alone regarding global and EU migration and that we would continue with the system in which we cannot effectively return anybody, in many ways, in terms of secondary movements and where, as the Deputy pointed out, the deportation system can be challenging at times.”
“To sign up to a significant overhaul of the rules would result in a firmer migration system – a fair but firmer one – and Ireland would disproportionately benefit because so many people who come to Ireland seeking refuge come here from what are called secondary movements. There is no doubt following my engagements in Europe in the past week – and I doubt there will be any after my engagements this week – but that Ireland stands to be one of the big beneficiaries of the EU migration pact. We will have plenty of time in this House to debate and discuss that.”
“I wish to be clear about our migration system. As I think the Deputy will know, it is not possible to put costings on these things.”
“The dynamic effects are that Ireland will benefit in some ways and not in others but overall will be the better for it. We will have an opportunity to tease through in painstaking detail the EU migration pact at the justice committee and on the floor of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. Far from ceding sovereignty, the people’s representatives, including the Deputy, me and everyone else in this House, will vote “Tá” or “Níl” on whether we want to go it alone or work with our European partners in accepting the fact that migration is a massive crisis of our time. It is a humanitarian crisis and an economic and social challenge and we need to work together.”
Deputy Tóibín in response said: “Taoiseach you don’t have a figure. This is an astounding admission. You have given a political commitment to sign up to an EU Migration Pact without knowing how much its going to cost the people of Ireland.”
“You are writing a blank cheque, your first as Taoiseach. Given that your government has made dozens of mandatory EU commitments and is getting fined millions of euro ever year for not meeting these commitments this is a disgrace”.
“Its not out of character. Your government is incinerating hundreds of millions of euro in waste. €2.2 billion on the National Children Hospital, €300m on metro north and not a shovel put in the ground. €22 million on ventilators that don’t work. Over 100 electric buses never used because no one got the planning permission for the chargers. I ask you again Taoiseach how much will the EU Migration Pact cost the citizens of the country you serve”.
An Teachta Tóibín made the case also that Ireland was already signed up to dozens of EU commitments, many which the government was failing which was costing the country dearly. He stated:
“When decisions are made in Brussels or Berlin we can’t influence them and we certainly can’t hold the decision makers to account. The banking crash was a perfect example of this. The EU forced billions of euro in bailouts on the Irish citizens. It did enormous damage to our country, and we are still recovering as a result of a lost generation of investment into Health, housing and infrastructure”.
“Your government has signed Ireland up to Green House Gas emissions targets. Your government will fall well short of those legally binding targets by 2030. This will cost the country hundreds of millions of euros in fines. This week by way of answer to an Aontú Parliamentary Question we learned that the EU is fining Ireland to the tune of tens of millions of euro in other areas too. The EU fined Ireland €2.5 million for Waste Water issues, €1.5 for Environmental Impact Assessment issues, €17m because of the Derrybrien Wind Farm, €2m on the Money Laundering directive, €2.5 for failures on the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and €.5 million for failures on the European Electronic Communications Code.
You are in court at the moment fighting big fines on our treatment of the bogs. Your government is signing up to EU commitments, you are failing to keep those commitments and as a result we are being fined millions of Euro ever year by the EU,” Tóibín said.