Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It is not the same issue, but a radically different one, because in Britain the judiciary apparently has power to order the deportation of persons it sends to prison. We do not have that system and whether we should have it is a policy judgment matter. To give the Deputy an example of the issue in question, whether somebody here for five years who is given a one month sentence for being drunk and disorderly should be deported as a further consequence of having served that term of imprisonment is a matter on which there could be two views. Non-nationals here help to build up our economy and are welcome while they are law-abiding citizens. However, where they breach the law, it does not follow under Irish law that either the Judiciary or the Minister is obliged to push them out of the country regardless of their circumstances or of whether the person is the mother of a family who are Irish citizens.

The Deputy should not be simplistic. This is not a Charles Clarke situation and there is no smoking gun.

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