Ms Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair:

I will respond to Senator Bacik's questions on the EU-Turkey deal. The response to the NGOs on the partnership framework has been very disappointing. Civil society has raised red flags about the protection of civilians and the rolling back on human rights frameworks and conventions and so on. It is a continuous issue where concerns are raised but the deal is steamrolling ahead. This is linked to the point about whether the concerns expressed in the Dáil debate about the deal were articulated at a European level. I do not know if that was the case or whether there is still an opportunity to do that and I do not know whether there is an opt-out from the deal, particularly when a funding contribution is being made to it.

Reference was made to slow progress and the number of clerical and legal staff available to process claims. In our paper published yesterday, which has been circulated to members, we took data from IOM, which provides numbers for stranded people. As of 13 July, there were 57,000 stranded migrants in Greece and 1,971 in Bulgaria. "Stranded" means they can be kept in a detention centre for 28 days before they must be released. However, the options available to them then are limited. There is little support other than that provided by NGOs. Greece is under strain in attempting to provide people with the legal support and administrative assistance they need.

Yes, Portugal is a good example, as is Canada. Over the past six months, Canada's contribution to providing spaces for refugees and the way it has handled the processing arrangements in Lebanon have been fantastic. In Canada, every Department has been involved and engaged in the processing, the security screening and everything, which is equally important. Moreover, everything has been done at scale to make sure people are allowed to move and to seek refugee status in Canada quickly.

On FRONTEX mark 2, while I do not have specific information on the border agents, the oversight mechanisms are of huge concern. It is opaque and the outsourcing of security from the EU to Libyan forces, for example, is an enormous concern. So many things are happening so quickly, that it must be highly transparent and as a member state, Ireland has both a buy-in and an enormous responsibility.