This Bill involves an erosion of migrants' rights and a shift towards deterrence. It is rushed legislation that is deeply flawed. We are being told by the Government that there is going to be a raft of amendments. As a result, we cannot scrutinise the Bill properly. The Bill leans towards the far right and racist lobby that is opposed to all migration, be it legal or illegal or whether it relates to IPAS centres, students with education visas or workers with employment permits. Those in question are on record on this issue. Key equality safeguards are either unclear or are absent from the Bill. It does not define what is meant by legal counselling or clarify who will provide that counselling. Neither is it clear if international protection applicants are going to be entitled to legal advice and representation at all stages of the process. For instance, can legal counselling be provided by non-legal professionals? Surely not. The suggestion about group counselling is neither practical nor legal. The key question is whether there will be legal advice for individuals. Who will conduct the assessments and what qualifications will they have? What does the phrase "suitable medical means of assessing age" mean and how effective and independent will the independent monitoring mechanism be? It appears that the Government may remove the chief inspector "in the best interests of the State ". That is very broad and, I would suggest, open to abuse. I refer in particular to the question of family reunification. We all need our families around us. Everyone who comes to live and work in Ireland deserves to have their family with them. However, thousands of people are being forced to live apart from their families for years on end. The new Government policy in this regard makes the situation even worse. People who come to Ireland to work are doing essential jobs such as: looking after older people; picking, packing and cooking food; working in hospitality services; driving buses; building houses; working as nurses and doctors; and staffing our hospitals. They have been recruited to work here because we cannot fill those positions ourselves. These people are being denied their basic right to have their family with them because they do not earn enough money or because of the types of jobs they have. Relationships are being torn apart, families are missing milestones, people are missing out on being parents and children are missing out on having their parents for support and guidance. Research shows that long-term delays in family reunion impact negatively on a series of issues like wages, education and language acquisition and can lead to long-term household poverty. The OECD's International Migration Outlook 2019 had a focus on the impact of family reunion on integration. It reported that spouses who arrive with some delay earn significantly lower wages after ten or more years in the host country. This report also outlines the negative effect of the absence of a spouse or partner on health and well-being. The integration of migrant children also depends on how quickly they can join their family. Outcomes are strongly affected by long delays. The same OECD report highlights that children of preschool age have better outcomes as adults than children who arrive at school age. It is, therefore, imperative that we move away from short-term thinking and ensure that family reunification takes place. Family reunification should be available immediately, particularly in cases where the individual is resident in Ireland on full-time basis, is in employment and is paying their taxes. This is a very important issue that goes to the core of the whole situation where we have significant numbers of non-Irish workers working in our services.

Sentiment score: -0.02