Mr. Nick Henderson:

On the issue of the legislative basis for reform, the civil society concern, and the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland made this point immediately upon publication of the White Paper, is that unless change or prospective change is put into law, then a change of Government, public opinion or political will means it would not happen. I agree with that. I am not quite sure how we translate what is quite a wide-ranging list of changes and reforms, including housing issues, into statutory form but it could work, for example, in terms of the asylum procedure. I just checked and I think either the Netherlands or Switzerland - I can update the committee - requires decisions to be made within a certain time. That may compel decision makers to act within that time.

On the international point, Ireland has quite an incredible record in respect of the Naval Service saving lives in the Mediterranean. Some 18,000 people were rescued in previous missions but since 2018 there has been a change of mission within the European Union, which has shifted more to identifying arms smuggling from Libya as opposed to saving lives. We have an incredibly proud experience and history in the Mediterranean, which was very rewarding for the Naval Service. We continue to recommend it as a tangible thing it could go back to. It is not without its challenges and other member states need to be brought on board but the record there is a very positive one.