There are some good things in the Bill, and there are some things that need to be changed. The speeding-up of the processing time is welcome, as is the speeding-up of the appeal times. Obviously, we want to help successful applicants to get through the process and allow them to integrate into Irish society and communities. That needs to be assisted in every way possible for people who are genuinely fleeing war, persecution or famine. I have raised family reunifications with the Minister before and I will raise it again today, specifically in respect of the three-year term for a person to get citizenship. I understand he may be changing that to two years, but he could go further with it. This is something I have real concerns about. If somebody has achieved status here, we should allow family reunification. They are here and contributing to Irish society, and separating them from their family is particularly cruel. We need to help and assist those people. For those who fail, their departure needs to be verified. I have not heard any clarification on this. When I asked about it two years ago, the Secretary General of the Department told me that failed applicants, after they have gone through appeals and so on, including the courts, get a letter in the post to their last known address. The Minister might tell us today what the current situation is, but that is not sufficient or satisfactory. If you fail, you fail. It has to be rules based. If the rules are not implemented, it does not work. With the indulgence of the Chair, I might also raise with the Minister the issue of the Day report. The report is still gathering dust and, meanwhile, we have this rampant profiteering by private interests in provisional accommodation. There have been many questions regarding the practices, and because it is so rushed and because of the sheer scale of what had to be done, it was a huge task to house so many people in private accommodation. I know the Secretary General of the Department who was handling that was under considerable pressure to do that, as were the staff. The common travel area needs to be addressed. Amendment No. 2 goes some way to addressing this. There is a loophole there. It is not about throwing up borders here, there and everywhere. We know the problems they have caused on this island, and I am certainly not going to come in here and argue for that, but there is a loophole there. It is a fact that the majority come over Britain's artificial border in Ireland. That must be addressed. Amendment No. 2 goes some way in addressing that, but it cannot be resolved without checks at the ports.

Sentiment score: -0.05

That is grand, I will keep to it now. Amendment No. 1, on staffing the centres, is very positive in ensuring that the systems are working, that the resources are there and that the administration and staff are there. I welcome the change in the Sinn Féin position because that was not always the position held - one, two, three or four years ago. I welcome that this change is happening now, because with what was there, if that was advocated and carried through, we would not have the services to meet that. I will be supporting positive amendments here. There are some good parts in the Bill, which I will certainly be voting for, but it needs further work. It is a pity we do not have more time to go through this. There are many amendments in a short space of time. As has been said, when you have just one member of staff, that can be difficult.

Sentiment score: 0.23