Ireland needs a tougher, faster and more enforceable international protection system. Communities are under pressure around the country. Services are stretched and the current system is not working for anyone - not for the State, for genuine refugees or for the public, which expects a fair but firm approach. I have said before that most economic migrants are decent people looking for a better life but these need to be dealt with through a work permit system. Yes, we need quicker decisions and a system where a final refusal actually means a person leaves the State. However, agreeing with these broad aims is not the same as being able to support the Bill in front of us because I am not sure this legislation strikes a balance that a modern, rights-based democracy needs to have. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Ombudsman for Children and others have raised serious concerns about how things could operate in a real-life situation. The Bill expands the arrest and detention powers, which I welcome in certain circumstances but it also includes the possibility of detaining unaccompanied children. That is a line we should not cross without absolutely necessary and watertight safeguards. We are not the Trump Administration, and those with a better knowledge than me are arguing that provisions on legal counselling are too vague, leaving applicants, including vulnerable people, without clear access to independent advice at key stages. Vulnerability assessments are preliminary only and are not ongoing either, meaning victims of trafficking, people who have been tortured or people with disabilities, including mental disabilities, may fall through the cracks. The age assessment procedures are also unclear and oral appeals are restrictive. Surely best practice is to always allow people to be heard in person whenever they want. It is not wrong for the people of Ireland to want a tougher system but as a democracy, they also want a system that can withstand legal challenge; protect the vulnerable, especially children; and ensure faith in the process, which I am not sure the Bill, as it is currently proposed, will do. Maybe we need to explicitly prohibit the detention of unaccompanied children, except in very exceptional circumstances with automatic judicial oversight. Maybe we need to guarantee access to free, independent legal counselling at all stages, including detention decisions and age assessments and strengthen age and vulnerability assessment procedures. We should maybe restore oral appeals as the default and not the exception to make sure there is fairness in the system, and finally, guarantee the full independence and adequate funding of the appeals bodies and the chief inspectorate. If these changes were made, we could have a Bill that is firm, fair and, crucially still, fast, if the proper resourcing is put in. In many circumstances, the reason it took so long before was down to processing and staffing issues. We could have a Bill that protects our borders and respects basic human rights. It is not a case of either-or.

Sentiment score: 0.16