Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This motion is coming fairly late to us given that the deadline is approaching very soon, on 16 April. I would have preferred that we would have had more of a lead-in time. I accept what the Minister said in her opening statement. We note that smuggling networks generate €4 billion to €6 billion every year. While people are paying the smugglers, there is great personal risk attached to that and there is a threat of violence. The Minister attended the Ruhama briefing. We know the good work Jackie Blanchfield and her team do there. We see the coal face of the problems and the exploitation caused by these people smugglers. I accept what the Minister is saying about the new directive allowing EU member states to prosecute and sanction organised criminal networks responsible for this smuggling. The harmonisation of legislation and penalties in this motion is welcome.

Expanding the jurisdiction to cases where non-EU nationals lose their lives is also important, as is stepping up the prevention, detection and investigation of migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. The regulation will enforce Europol's role in interagency co-operation in the fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings. It is an important measure because we know that traffickers are responsible for a huge number of deaths, including all the people who die when they risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean in particular. Traffickers abandon people at the first sign of trouble, despite all the money that is paid to them. Trafficked people are then obliged to engage in forced labour, such as what is seen by Ruhama, including some sex work to pay off what is often an imaginary debt, with their documents seized and a number of threats made against them not to alert the authorities.

All of these opt-in procedures are most serious. We do not want to have to rush through significant decisions, and the adoption of all the EU proposals is not guaranteed. We should not walk blindly into accepting everything in this pact that will be forthcoming in the next few weeks and that is being voted on today. It does not make any sense to give resources and decision-making powers away to the EU, or to take more applicants, when we cannot safely and comfortably accommodate some of those who are already here. This morning and last night, I passed Sandwith Street where people are living in tents in the current weather conditions. It is important that we do not set ourselves up to fail by not being able to comply with some of the regulations and EU proposals that are coming down the tracks. The State and the Government should not blindly adopt or opt into every single one of those. We should only opt in to laws where the State could not otherwise act and EU-wide action is in Ireland's interest. We must have control over our borders and sovereignty. While Eurodac will help with some family reunifications, for example those involving unaccompanied minors, it is important there should be a full and proper debate in this House, not just at the justice committee, including taking questions relating to this issue.

Within the whole section of justice policy, many items relating to EU law and Ireland's relationship with it need to be examined. Those laws are all incredibly important but, sometimes, over the past few years, they have not been given the scrutiny and attention they deserve, especially those relating to the movement of people. In recent years, the Government has developed papers and reports. These date back to the justice committee report of, I think, the Thirty-second Dáil, which contained proposals for solutions within the asylum system for accommodating protection applicants. Three years ago, there was a proposal that there would be more State involvement, but it seems that has now been repackaged into what is being made out to be a new proposal when it clearly is not. If a proper State-led system had been introduced as regards integration a few years ago, we might not have had all the protests. State-led accommodation could have been tailored to provide for single people, male and female, and families in properly constructed buildings in the same venue. We might not then have had all the problems with nursing homes, old hotels and the like, which has fuelled some of the outrageous and bizarre conspiracy theories that seem to be going around. I am sure the Minister has heard them. I certainly have.

Nothing was done over the past few years to implement the State-led proposal, which was suggested as one of the solutions three years ago. The proposal is still fairly opaque on how it will be implemented, including whether housing bodies or the State will be involved. Our views on the integration of accommodation have been very clear for quite some time. Our 2020 manifesto mentioned that it is important to avoid the failed policies that have fostered resentments and tensions in other countries.

Successive Governments have failed to deliver on housing and health. They alone are responsible for that. All states must manage migration and have functioning rules and regulations that everyone understands and that serve everyone in the country well. The vast majority of the forthcoming EU asylum pact is not in Ireland's interest and we will vote against it when it comes before this House.

On the commitment outlined in the 2020 manifesto, we believe it is important to have a commitment to global solidarity, human rights and justice, which is perfectly compatible with any stance on migration.

The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has put further pressure on the accommodation system. Taking into account the fact the number of international protection applicants has increased since then, it would have been easier to deal with the surge had it not been for that despicable invasion.

We want to be steadfast in our commitment to and solidarity with those affected by war and conflict globally and in our opposition to militarisation and interventionism, which has fuelled displacement and conflict.

We do not believe in conceding completely to Europe the power to set policies, threatening Ireland with infringement proceedings, when we should be able to manage things on the basis of the democratic mandate of the government of the day. We should opt in to laws where the State cannot otherwise act and where the EU action is in Ireland's interest. We need to evaluate migration and asylum proposals on the basis of a system that is fair, efficient and enforced.

We recognise international co-operation is necessary to combat the crimes mentioned in the proposal. We will support the motion, given the difficulties and threat to the State from money laundering, drug dealing, people trafficking and smuggling organised by these criminal gangs, who increasingly co-operate among themselves.

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