Mr. David Leonard:

I do not have any statistics but the whole idea of the regulation that would replace the Dublin system is that if an applicant has a connection with another EU state before coming here, there is a more streamlined process for sending him or her back to that state for his or her application for international protection to be processed there. The idea of the new system - it is the asylum and migration management regulation that would replace the Dublin system - is to make it easier to send people back to the first state they have a connection with in order for their application to be processed there.

The Senator asked whether the fact that the EU wants everybody to sign up to this measure is an indication that the system is not working. It is an imperfect system at the moment and the EU considers that it can be improved with these measures. While that is true to some extent, there is a distinction between improving the law and then putting resources into the systems to make sure the laws are implemented in the way that serves the State and applicants in the best possible way. Just because we improve the law does not mean it will fix everything without putting in the resources to manage the system and implement everything fairly. That is a separate issue.