Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Other countries do not have an option. The only country that differs from us is Denmark. When we negotiated the Lisbon treaty, we negotiated that we would have an opt-in. Denmark is not the same. It is in the Schengen area and is not choosing to opt out of any of the measures, but it never opted into any of the asylum procedures. Denmark has a separate and parallel process which it negotiates and engages with other countries on in parallel, so there is no one else to compare with. We are opting in because we are already a member of the asylum system and we are upgrading what we are already part of.