Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It was truly shameful to see Deputies Wallace and Daly jailed yesterday for their part in highlighting the disgusting role the Irish Government has played and continues to play in facilitating warmongering and the killing of ordinary people in the Middle East through the use of Shannon Airport. For most people, that contrasts very greatly with the inaction we are likely to see in terms of fairly openly corrupt politicians.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance opposes the International Protection Bill, the manner in which it has been brought forward and the Government's attempt to railroad it through without proper debate and discussion. The Bill comes against the backdrop of the humanitarian crisis we are witnessing in Syria and across North Africa, where people who are fleeing war are now being met with tighter EU border controls, the construction of barriers, barbed wire and police brutality. People can see the horrific scenes on their televisions screens.

The Irish Government has committed to welcoming 4,000 people, but only 100 have been offered assistance so far and it is planned to resettle only 30. That is completely unacceptable. Right wing and racist forces, most graphically demonstrated by the comments of Donald Trump in America, cannot and must not be allowed to use horrific crimes, such as the Paris terrorist attacks, to make scapegoats of the refugees who are fleeing the same reactionary right-wing forces like ISIS which carried out the attacks.

The right of people to seek asylum for themselves and their families is a fundamental right which must be defended. The need for change in Ireland's asylum process is something that this and previous Governments have discussed for over a decade, yet this week the Minister is trying to drive through the Bill with very little debate and against the wishes of groups like the Irish Refugee Council and the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, which have raised serious concerns about the Bill.

The Minister established a working group on the protection process, involving groups like the Irish Refugee Council, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, Doras Luimní and others. The working group made 173 recommendations on how the asylum process could be improved in a range of different areas. However, what has been brought forward is an insult to the work of these groups. Very few of the working group's recommendations have been taken on board. In a press conference earlier this week, Fiona Finn, the chief executive of Nasc, the immigrant support centre, in a damning comment described the approach taken as the Minister cherry-picking a handful of the more conservative recommendations and ignoring any positive recommendations.

The creation of a single procedure for asylum claims is something for which different organisations have campaigned for many years. It is intended to speed up the asylum process, rather than the current system which can take years. However, without the other measures that those organisations recommended, such as an independent body to decide on these issues, proper training of people who will be the first point of contact for those seeking asylum and putting child welfare at the centre of the policy, it is fundamentally flawed. The single process without those measures will simply speed up the process, but in doing so will put people's lives in danger by potentially refusing them entry or returning them to countries where they are at risk.

This Bill will see the number of people being deported from this country rise. It will give gardaí more powers to arrest people to be deported. Part of the aim of the Bill seems to be about enforcing the country's borders in a more rigorous way and giving the authorities more powers to expel people quickly, rather than being about offering people the vital right to asylum.

This follows the unfortunate trend we are seeing throughout Europe. Decisions will now be made by the Minister who will have the power to decide who gets to stay.

The Bill does nothing to address direct provision, the degrading dehumanising horrific situation in which people can live for years in what are akin to open prison camps where people survive on €19 a week without the right to work. Direct provision needs to be ended, people need to be treated humanely and the right to asylum needs to be defended.

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