Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not be opposing sections 115 to 118, inclusive. I am keen to move on to the specific amendments on section 119. However, some of those concerns are specific. Again, this is an issue I wish we had had more proper scrutiny of since the last occasion on which we passed withdrawal legislation. There are concerns, particularly if we end up in a situation where the UK withdraws from, for example, the human rights courts. In terms of the deeming of safe third country status and of being a first country of asylum, I have a concern that we will have automatic assumptions in regard to the UK that we might need to more thoughtfully address. It would have been useful to have had a sense of what the expectations are and how we feel this will operate. It is not going to be the case that we can just treat the UK as if it is an EU country if it ends up not having the same human rights standards.

We will end up returning to this issue. I will not oppose the sections so we can get to the substantive concerns on the international protection orders. However, we cannot make blanket assumptions on the situation if we do not have a deal. Of course, in an ideal scenario, we will have a deal that miraculously happens and this does not apply. However, in a scenario where the UK does not commit to the kinds of equivalences that, certainly in regard to Northern Ireland, it is required to commit to under the Good Friday Agreement, and, more widely, to the kinds of human rights equivalences and equivalences in terms of international protection and asylum that exist, we may need to have a future discussion.

I will park that for now so we can move to the more substantive amendments. I will not oppose section 115.