Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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They would have to make the case but the paragraph before it reads:

A country that has been designated under section 72 of the Act as a safe country of origin shall, for the purposes of the assessment of an application for international protection, be considered to be a safe country of origin in relation to a particular applicant only where

It goes on to list conditions under a) and b). We should look for clarification on that. It is open to a number of interpretations. The State may do the assessment. In fairness, the letter goes into detail as to how that is done. It says:In making the assessment, it must be taken into account, among other things, the extent to which protection is provided against persecution or mistreatment by:

• The relevant laws and regulations of the country and the manner in which they are applied. [That is good.]
• The observance of the rights and freedoms laid down in specified European and International Conventions. [It is only right that should be taken into consideration.]
• Respect for the principle of non-refoulement in accordance with the Geneva Convention. [That is good.]
• Provision for a system of effective remedies against violation of those rights and freedoms. [That may not be available.]

The correspondence goes on to say "The assessment is based on a range of sources of information, including from other EU Member States, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Council of Europe and other international organisations". I do not have any argument with any of that. It is good that all of that is taken into consideration. However, this point b) seems to open up an area that is up------