Ms Emily Logan:

We are very aware of our accountability to the Oireachtas. We are here today to say to this committee that as a national institution, we have been working on this for three and a half years. We first set out our stall in December 2014. We gave our views on the International Protection Bill as it was going through the Oireachtas and circulated that to all members of the Oireachtas on 5 July 2015. We intervened in the NHV case in the Supreme Court. We have been working on this for the last three and a half years. We have made our position clear and have not changed our position at all. We are struggling in terms of where we go next because we have been to the highest authorities, that is, the Parliament and the Supreme Court. While I appreciate that what Deputy O'Callaghan is saying is absolutely legitimate, in terms of where statutory instruments are written and how they are dealt with vis-à-vis the Oireachtas, we are also very aware of our accountability to Members of the Oireachtas. We want to tell Members that we are concerned about this very significant policy action being taken by the Executive.