Results 1-20 of 45 for immigration segment:4123455

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Any carrier who does not comply with his or her duty and take all reasonable steps to ensure that the passengers disembark in the manner required by the immigration officer attracts to himself or herself a criminal liability. If a ship with 100 people on board is docks in Ireland and an immigration officer says that all passengers intending to land in or pass through Ireland must get off the...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

The plain fact is that this amendment would make the operation of sensible immigration controls of any sort, at the point of entry, inoperable. If an immigration officer has to make a decision as to which vehicles coming off a ferry are checkable, and which are not, the scope of revision of immigration control widens. That would be as good a means as any of providing encouragement to...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Amendment No. 4 concerns the replacement of "in compliance with" with "if required to do so by". "In compliance with any directions given by immigration officers" is the phrase used in the Bill. If a direction is given, it must be complied with. The phrase, "if required to do so by," has the same meaning. If an immigration officer does not give a direction, there is no failure on the part of...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Derek McDowell: Indeed we are and I will address that in a moment. However, I want to respond briefly to what the Minister has said. Surely, this Bill is about finding a balance as to who operates the immigration service, the carrier or the immigration service proper. Immigration officers here have a great deal of powers. As Revenue officers, they are vested with quasi-judicial powers, certainly...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Jim Walsh: They must have had to present themselves to immigration officers at the airport or port. It would be impossible for an immigration officer to distinguish—

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Derek McDowell: There is an interesting distinction to be made in this regard. I assume the Minister would claim the Immigration Bill, 2002, is intended to cut down on illegal immigration to this country. What he is not telling the House – and perhaps it follows logically from his comments – is that it is also intended to provide another rung to prevent people from seeking asylum in Ireland. That rung...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: With respect, we are talking about an amendment. We are not discussing the powers of an immigration officer as much as the obligation cast on the carrier to ensure people comply with directions given by the immigration officer. The suggestion is that the carrier should only ensure that non-nationals comply with the direction and should not be under any obligation to ensure that Irish...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Brendan Ryan: I have never heard of the traffickers who facilitate illegal immigration doing much for refugees. They have done it for economic migrants because they pay them. Refugees do not usually have any money to pay people. If refugees are concealed, it is probably because some humanitarian is trying to be helpful. We should be more careful when we talk about illegal immigrants and economic migrants....

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Derek McDowell: ...owns the plane being boarded. I came back from Roscoff during the summer. There is a hut at the entrance to the port where passports are checked, or not, as happened to me. I presume the French immigration service or the police operate that service. If I was with Brittany Ferries, it would be reasonable for me to rely on these guys to check passports and documentation – that is their...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

...a ship to Ireland to ensure that all persons on the ship who are seeking to land in Ireland or to pass through a port here to travel somewhere else disembark in accordance with directions given by immigration officers. That means they cannot loiter in the boiler room until after midnight when all the other passengers have gone and that they must pass through channel A or B if an...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: ...liability provisions of the Bill to commercial vehicles would seriously undermine the potential effectiveness of those provisions and leave in existence continuing scope for widespread abuse of our immigration controls. I see no justification in principle or practice for excluding non-commercial vehicles involved in bringing passengers to this State from the scope of the carrier's...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

While we have in place strong provisions for combating trafficking in persons, in the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act, 2000, it would make for an incoherent strategic approach to combating illegal immigration if we were to close one form of abuse only to leave open another avenue for abuse. The amendment misses the point of the carrier liability scheme, which is to encourage those who...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

The Minister should consider the position in which this country has been for the past 20, 30 or even 50 years. People left Ireland on a nod and a wink basis, saying they had gone through immigration. When they arrived in America they were sent home but the carrier was not fined. The amendment is good. The Minister is taking all the responsibility away from the State and the immigration...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Jim Walsh: ...not know whether he or she is a non-national or a national. An officer cannot distinguish that until the person produces his or her papers. If the people on board a ship refuse to disembark, the immigration officer does not have the authority to go on board. From my knowledge of the shipping business, the captain of the ship is in charge of the vehicle while it is in port. There must be a...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Derek McDowell: ...can get into virtually any Irish airport without producing a passport and one may well have started one's journey in a French regional airport where procedures are quite lax. If we want to prevent immigrants getting through, for example, Farranfore Airport having come from an airport in France it is for the Irish State to provide immigration facilities in Farranfore rather than insist that...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Paschal Mooney: Perhaps the Minister will clarify if it is true that, as part of the illegal trafficking that has been conducted in Europe and in order to ensure a safe passage for illegal immigrants, traffickers have advised those who wish to enter Ireland and other countries to burn their passports and other documents. If they take the advice, illegal immigrants who are actually economic migrants have a...

Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Brendan Ryan: ...used the word "refugee" when he talked about the people concealed in the container. I would have thought that for a man with such a capacity for precision the appropriate term would be "illegal immigrant" or "asylum seeker".

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Derek McDowell: So immigration officers already have the power to require people to go through a particular channel, for example, or to go onto a ship and inspect it?

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Derek McDowell: There has to be a balance between our responsibilities as a State to operate an immigration policy and the liability of carriers.