Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for her questions. With regard to the operability of the asylum and migration pact, the date of June 2026 applies throughout the Union but individual states will deal with it in their own right prior to that. The Senator will have heard various announcements as to what the State is doing in regard to its processes, which are not in line with this pact and, in fact, we were much worse in terms of our adjudication times and the time it took to process applications.

The first thing we should do is tackle some myths. When people say that we have an opt-out, that is almost said in the vein that if we invoke an opt-out clause, we take ourselves away from any migration. This is Europe that we are talking about. The key is that we have to work together with our European colleagues to try to meet the challenge of migration and respond to it. Most importantly, we have to try to unlock the root cause of migration and work with other countries that people are coming from to improve their democracies, to give financial assistance to improve their infrastructure and to open up channels, which is critical. That has to be at the forefront.

It is sometimes all about easy solutions such as Brexit in the UK, where we saw Nigel Farage and the picture with so many Syrian refugees behind him. Syrian refugees do not come from Europe. It was the same in Italy when Meloni took office and migration was supposed to be finished. Then we had Lampedusa and migration soaring through the roof, even through a right-wing Prime Minister had taken over in Italy. These are very complex problems to resolve. People come to countries seeking refuge for many different reasons. Ireland is a country that tries its best to provide a safe haven for people but it also adjudicates fairly on their applications. People who are genuinely seeking asylum are provided for and attain refugee status, and those who are not have an obligation to leave the State. It is a very sensitive and challenging issue and these problems will not go away.

With specific reference to the pact, there is a solidarity clause contained within the asylum and migration pact that relates 50% to population and 50% to GDP, and that has to be worked through with regard to making a financial contribution instead of taking in asylum seekers. Again, that is trying to work in a European context. If one country gets overrun, do we just walk away and say that it will never be our problem? It will. People move and people get here. The Dublin regulation relates to people who have sought asylum in other jurisdictions.

This strengthens the agreement regarding how they are processed and turnaround times. It opens avenues for returns policies. We all know the challenge if someone genuinely should not be here. It is not as easy to deport someone. Some of these countries do not have open channels or returns policies. One just cannot load someone up on a plane and send them off to a country that potentially does not even have a government. It could have a dictator in place. There are so many reasons for asylum. Ireland is a very open country. We went through a very particular day. On St. Patrick's Day, we travel all over the world and see where the Irish diaspora ended up and the contributions they made to other countries. We should also acknowledge the contribution that people who were not born in this country make. Every day, they hold up our public services, be it our health service, our hospitality or transport services. They provide so much of a contribution. We need to act fairly and humanely and to work through these problems. We need to work as a society.

As I mentioned about Palestine and Israel, let us not make it a wedge issue. Let us make it an issue to which we want to respond compassionately as a society and in a way that protects our own interests, protects the EU and ensures that we try our best to unlock the root causes of migration.