Mr. Enda O'Neill:

Our view is that the legal instrument is just one part of the situation. The member states and the European Commission are working on implementation plans that are starting soon. We expect them to be ready by the end of the year. That is a really crucial part of the process. Also, within all of the different instruments, there is still a great deal of discretion left to member states as to how they apply the provisions. I would still expect to see quite a variety in how it is applied within member states.

As I mentioned in our opening statement, there are issues with compliance with the law at present, so changing the law will not automatically fix that. What it does, however, is provide a much more comprehensive framework throughout the EU for managing the situation. We believe that international co-operation is essential to manage the movement of people. One only has to look at the media over the past week for an example of that. We need to have co-operation between neighbouring countries and across Europe in order to manage situations effectively. The pact is the best opportunity to do that.