The new EU Asylum and Migration Pact will increase Ireland’s “obligations to act in unity with our European neighbours” on immigration matters, the Department of Justice has said – though one TD has claimed that the plan “will generate massive financial costs for Ireland as it attempts to reduce the number of asylum seekers who are processed here.”
In a statement to Gript, the Department said the plan would “protect our borders” and asylum system.
“As with any such EU level agreement, opting in will increase our obligations to act in unity with our European neighbours,” a spokesman said.
“Equally, it will also protect our borders, our asylum system and our resources, as our neighbours will be likewise be obliged to uphold their commitments under the Pact and support us in solidarity in the event of mass irregular inward migration.”
Proponents of the plan say that its aim is to speed up the processing of individuals arriving from safe countries, with specific procedures in place for those who pose a threat to the state, who originate from countries where the EU-wide asylum approval rate is 20% or less, or who have deceived authorities – for example by destroying their travel or identification documents. This would also apply to immigrants who enters states illegally.
Individuals subjected to this border procedure would not be permitted to enter Ireland, and would be housed at specified sites, with their applications processed within three months. If their application was denied, they would be deported within an additional three months.
Furthermore, the pact will expand the groups of migrants required to undergo fingerprinting and checks against the Eurodac database upon arrival.
However, the agreement also introduces a new solidarity measure, mandating countries to either contribute financially or agree to relocate some asylum seekers from nations experiencing significant strains.
Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan said that the “so-called ‘solidarity’ mechanisms will generate massive financial costs for Ireland as it attempts to reduce the number of asylum seekers who are processed here.”
“While in principle there are some aspects of this that we can all support, such as efforts to reduce child trafficking and increased fingerprinting, the fact remains that Ireland needs to detach itself from yet more EU demands rather than embed itself further into yet another web of sovereignty-undermining regulations,” she said.
“This is being presented to us as if it were the only asylum show in town, when the reality is precisely the opposite.”
The Deputy said that any attempt to align Irish law with the EU Pact “will be resisted through every parliamentary option available.”
“The Minister needs to explain why we cannot take the same approach as Denmark, a state that opted out of the Pact and which has had massive success in reducing asylum applications,” she said.
“We too had an opt-out, but Cabinet chose yet again to put on full display its fawning and embarrassing sense of inferiority when it comes to anything that emanates from our ‘EU partners.’
“I will also be seeking clear commitments from the Minister and indeed Government that it will not seek to assure people by talking up the legislative approval aspect of this process while at the same time fully intending to guillotine the debate or disallow whole swathes of amendments when the legislation is eventually brought to the Dáil.”
The Department, however, rebuffed Nolan’s argument.
“The arrangements Denmark has in place have no bearing on these considerations,” they said.
“The EU treaty provisions for Ireland and Denmark in relation to the area of migration and asylum law (as approved by referendum) are different.
“Denmark is a Schengen Member State and has highly integrated border measures with the other Schengen states and long established parallel mechanisms for cooperating with all Schengen and EU states on asylum management issues, including obligations to accept the return of asylum applicants who engaged in secondary movement to other states, to cooperate with Eurodac screening and information sharing.”
However, Sinn Féin has criticised the plan, with Matt Carthy TD saying that the regulations will not significantly improve the asylum situation.
“If these regulations applied today, we would still have migrants sleeping on the streets,” he said.
“We would still have the debacles of the hotels being taken over, we would still have this government mismanaging the entire situation. The only addition we would have is potential fines from the European Commission. So the Irish people, as well as having to deal with an incompetent government dealing with these things, would also have to pay the European Commission for the privilege of that incompetence.”
"I'm taking a pro-sovereignty view…"@mattcarthy tells @clairebrockTV why he thinks the Government should be getting to grips with the migration issue, without the need for the entirety of the EU Pact on Migration. pic.twitter.com/9EnyrmMIky
— TonightVMTV (@TonightVMTV) March 27, 2024