Opposition to the EU Migration and Asylum Pact has been voiced in the Dail during a five-hour long debate held on Thursday night, though it was strongly supported by government TDs.
TDs on the Opposition benches hit out at the government’s “reckless” adoption of the Pact which they said would erode Irish sovereignty, but voices from the government benches claimed that the contentious legislation would fast-track asylum applications, and ensure a “firm but fair” approach to immigration.
Taoiseach Simon Harris opened the highly-anticipated debate by stating it is his absolute priority and duty to ensure Ireland has a “coherent and effective” immigration policy and a whole-of government approach.
The Taoiseach told the House it was also his duty and obligation to “challenge the extremists who claim to speak for this country, generally with no mandate.” Harris also conceded that there existed “legitimate concerns and questions” surrounding the issue.
“Waving a tricolour does not make you a patriot,” he said adding that the Pact would be a way to counteract human trafficking, stating: “Ireland cannot allow traffickers and smugglers to decide who enters what country, while making significant money and depriving the most vulnerable of their dignity and belongings. Therefore, our goal must be to join forces with friends and colleagues in Europe to fight illegal migration. That is why this migration pact is essential.”
However, Deputy Mattie McGrath, leader of the Rural Independent Group, said the grouping are “fundamentally opposed” to the migration pact, and had “made our opposition known for several months.”
“The Dáil justice committee wrapped up its discussions on the pactmore than a month ago,” he said.
The Tipperary Independent said that since then, the government had “tactically postponed the debate and vote in the Dáil until after the local and European elections,” stating: “The dogs in the street know that.”
“We saw in the referendums that the Government withheld vital information that should have been put into the public domain, and it has tried to do the same with this, just hide it from the people. A pact that took nearly a decade to negotiate in Brussels is to be expedited through the Dáil and Seanad within several hours this week.”
Outlining the content of the legislation, he said: “The EU migration pact consists of five separate regulations. Within these regulations, there are ten regulatory measures, seven of which the Government proposes to adopt.
‘UNSPECIFIED NUMBER OF ASYLUM SEEKERS’
“However, it is denying the Dáil a vote on each of the seven opt-in measures, despite the European Parliament having held separate votes on each of the measures, as has been well documented. We should be discussing the pact section by section, because there is some good in the pact but there is also an awful lot of bad in it for our country.”
He also claimed that under the pact, Ireland will be bound to take in an unspecified number of asylum seekers.
“Opting in to the measures proposed by the Government under the pact will have grave consequences, including increasing numbers of asylum seekers or financial penalties under the solidarity mechanism of the pact. Ireland is required to accept an unspecified number of asylum seekers each year or face a financial penalty of at least €20,000 per person, imposed by the European Union.
“The quota of asylum seekers each country will be assigned under the pact will be based on population size, which does not work in our favour because of our small population, and on our GDP, which is seriously skewed by the multinational investors that are here at this time but which could disappear at any time like snow off a ditch.”
Deputy Carol Nolan, meanwhile, hit out at a lack of public consultation on the pact. She said many people viewed its adoption as “the grave into which we are going to place our national sovereignty on the issue of asylum and migration.”
“I agree with that view,” she said. “In the fullness of time, we will be worse off socially, financially and politically because of it. Many also share the view, articulated some months ago by Senator McDowell, that what we are dealing with here, while it may not rise to the level of constitutional change in the strict sense, seeks to bring about constitutional-level changes and, as such, requires far greater levels of public consultation and consent.”
“Have we seen much consultation taking place? Have we seen many discussions taking place with the Irish people who will be directly affected by this opt-in to the pact? No, we have not. Why is that?”
SINN FEIN SAYS GOVERNMENT ‘WRONG’ TO ADOPT PACT
Members of Sinn Féin also rejected the pact, with leader Mary Lou McDonald saying the government was wrong to adopt the legislation, and that “power should remain with the Irish government.”
“The Government is wrong to adopt the EU migration pact. That it did not even consider, it seems, exercising Ireland’s opt-out from any element of the pact is shocking. Migration is a challenging issue. We must, of course, respect international law and co-operate with other states but, ultimately, migration policy must be set by an Irish Government elected by the Irish people,” she said.
“We must retain the flexibility we currently have. Only by retaining the powers to make our own decisions on migration will we have a rules-based system that is properly managed and fair, that applies common sense and common decency and that recognises the unique challenges Ireland faces. The reality of the common travel area with Britain has not been calculated or considered at all by the Government, it seems.”
“Retaining the power to make decisions in Ireland – standing up for Irish sovereignty – is a key principle in a healthy relationship with the European Union. It informs our position regarding retention of powers in Ireland on taxation, on foreign affairs and defence and on migration. In each of these cases, power should remain with the Irish Government.”
Party TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire claimed that Sinn Fein’s position on migration “is similar to where the vast bulk of Irish people stand..”
“We believe in common sense and common decency. Most people recognise that where people are genuinely fleeing war and oppression, they deserve protection and support. Most Irish people recognise that many migrants make a huge contribution to Irish society. Most people also agree that this must be on the basis of rules and where there are rules, they must be applied.”
‘VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE NOT FOR THIS’
Deputy Michael Healy-Rae also voiced his opposition to the pact, saying it was “about trust,” but that “people do not trust the Government when it comes to migration, and it is hard to see how you could disagree with them when we see the chaotic scenes”.
“I see that the Government is finally waking up to the reality that we were being taken for fools in many instances, and that is not to make little of people who came here because they had to come here. I have seen pictures of people’s homes having been bombed and of people with nothing but a couple of bags in their hands, but this is a completely different thing we are talking about,” the Kerry TD said.
“On the one hand, we are talking about people fleeing from a genuine war and, on the other, there are people coming here because it is better to come here than to go somewhere else. The Government really has to wake up to this. That is one of the reasons I cannot support this pact when it is put to a vote tomorrow at midnight.”
“I ask the Government to listen to the people because it did not listen to them previously. It did not listen to them in the recent referendums and it was proved wrong in that regard. The vast majority of people are not for this either because, quite simply, they do not trust the Government given what it allowed to continue happening for so long.”
Leas-Cheann Comhairle Catherine Connolly said she would not be supporting the pact. “Von der Leyen does not need our help,” she said.
“Our voices need to be heard loud and clear. We need to say that we have challenges in terms of the number of asylum seekers and refugees running from their countries. We need to ask why that is happening. We need to ask what we, as part of Europe, are going to do about that. We need to make words mean something when we stand in solidarity and show some human outrage at the 600 people that we know about who went down on one ship. That still continues to this day. I will not be supporting the pact.”
Tánaiste Michael Martin made a case for the Pact, saying that opting in would allow for better coordination between EU member states and the advancement of data sharing.