Mr. William O'Dwyer:

The relevant court case was S.G. (Albania) v. The Minister for Justice and Equality. When the International Protection Act was implemented in 2015, it repealed the Refugee Act 1996, which, in section 5, had a provision onrefoulementthat applied not only to protection applications but also to all removals from the State regardless of whether or not they were protection-related. When the International Protection Act 2015 was implemented, it repealed the 1996 Act and inadvertently disapplied non-refoulementconsiderations to non-protection applicant removals, for example, deportation orders or general immigration cases.

It only came to light in the High Court case but the practice was always that non-refoulementconsiderations were considered in every removal case from State. Here, we are restoring the position where there is a legal basis to the non-refoulementconsideration for non-protection related cases which are dealt with under the Immigration Act 1999 and the Immigration Act 2003. Section 3B gives a retrospective legal basis to deportations that would have taken place from 31 December until the Bill is enacted. However, it is only where the non-refoulementconsideration has taken place. If a deportation order is the subject of court proceedings, for instance, that retrospective provision does not impact on it.