Ms Edel McGinley:

Regarding refusal of leave to land, there is a big problem with that now in the State anyway. There is no oversight over it and people are not given the reasons. There is no legal representation in that process anyway, so it is fraught with difficulties as it is currently. The introduction of the pact is not particularly going to change that. It is problematic and we need better oversight of it as it is.

It is a disproportionate approach to fingerprint children and hold any data on children, and we are not in favour of it. Holding it in mass databases is problematic. We do not know how it will be used or how it could be weaponised into the future. Anything that impacts on people’s rights in this way is very worrying. That kind of mass surveillance element is a worrying part of the pact.

On the solidarity mechanism, Ireland has a big budget surplus, so we can pay and opt out of any solidarity. We do not have to accept people. We can pay and that money can go towards anything, such as externalisation or the processing of people off the territory of the European Union. We are not in control of where that money will go and that is problematic. It means that richer countries can just offload their solidarity to countries that perhaps do not have as much money. We need to stay true to our values as a country and as a nation, where people are respected and cared for and we promote safety. We fought hard for many years for human rights in this country. Over the years, we have been a country that has punched above its weight with regard to human rights and we want to continue that reputation. Right now we are at risk of not continuing that reputation in this pact and that is worrying. It should be worrying to all of us, not just NGOs or civil society - politicians should be worried about it too. We and the committee need to think about this seriously.