Ms Sin?ad Gibney:

I thank Ms Hanna for her comments and questions. To date, the Irish Government has not asked us for any advice on the legacy Bill. I earlier mentioned that we have not dealt with this matter at commission level. We have a clear remit to protect and promote human rights and equality in Ireland. We have powers to comment on legislation and provide advice on it as it progresses through the Houses of the Oireachtas. We do not have that same power to apply to other jurisdictions so it is not within our remit. However, Ms Kilpatrick has already mentioned the joint committee, which is probably the forum at which we will progress this issue. As Ms Kilpatrick has ably pointed out, Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and people's right to an independent investigation, concerns us most. That is where we will be advancing it. Of course, if the Irish Government were to ask us for specific human rights and equality advice on UK legislation, we would take that request under consideration, as we would with any request from the Government.

Ms Hanna also asked about asylum seekers and refugees. I will contextualise those issues in today's discussion. We know that approximately 9,000 people have applied so far this year for international protection in Ireland. That is far above last year's level. There were approximately 2,500 such applications in the whole of last year. We are seeing unprecedented numbers coming through. There is some speculation that some of that is related to more stringent UK policy, such as the Rwanda policy. To my knowledge, and I would love to hear any comments anybody else has to make, there is no hard evidence for that. There are other potential factors to explain the increase, which include, for example, the lag from the pandemic. There are other reasons why we might be seeing such a glut arising. Our biggest concern at the moment is the emerging two-tier system. The treatment of those refugees who have come here from Ukraine has been positive and heartening. I applaud the different groups that are working to provide that response. Unfortunately, however, those people in the direct provision system in Ireland continue to experience human rights violations within their international protection experience. That is what we most want to see addressed. We want direct provision to be abolished, as was outlined in the Government White Paper. While I fully appreciate that we have unprecedented numbers - this is an unprecedented situation and we can all expect delays - that commitment must be honoured and we must see tangible actions to honour it. Our biggest concern is about that two-tier response.

I do not think there is anything else I wish to say in response to Ms Hanna's comments. Perhaps Ms Kilpatrick will have something to add.