Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister pointed out that it is an offence for the vast majority of people to present at Dublin Airport or any frontier of the State without a passport. In 2023, 3,285 people did so and there were no prosecutions; the previous year there were 4,200 people and no prosecutions. I asked in a parliamentary question why that was the case and the Minister stated that prosecutions are entirely independent; they are a matter for the An Garda Síochána and the DPP. I then raised the matter in the Dáil with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who happened to be there on the day. He was a bit taken aback by the question, etc. Then, lo and behold, prosecutions started. Now we are told that there are loads of prosecutions. "Hell for leather" was the quote in The Irish Times, so it must be true, about the prosecutions being taken. What changed?

The law is the same. The same people who are doing the same thing are suddenly being prosecuted because it is politically embarrassing for the Government. How does that happen in a country where prosecutions are taken completely independently of the political system? If the Government can turn on prosecutions, can it also turn them off? Who decided not to prosecute this offence? Is not the real problem that Ireland is being criticised by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment for having no immigration detention facilities? It correctly states that it is wholly inappropriate for people who have committed immigration violations to be housed with general remand prisoners. It is not a great introduction to the State, let us face it, and equally it is wholly inappropriate. We have no immigration centres; sorry we have. There was a lot of fanfare when one was built last year, but it houses 20 people or some such number.