Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State can express all the noble aspirations he wishes but, at the beginning of the Bill we find an example of how this legislative process is fundamentally flawed. We are on amendment No. 3 and the Minister of State looks a bit lost as to the point being made and is having to consult civil servants for explanations. Prompted by the Irish Refugee Council, we are pointing out a significant gap in the legislation but there is no possibility of the Minister of State taking on board what we are saying.

Today's Committee Stage is a sham. The point of Committee Stage is to allow us, having digested the arguments, to return in a week's time to amend the Bill if legitimate issues, gaps or problems have been identified, but that cannot happen today. The process will be short-circuited and the Bill will be guillotined. We are only at the beginning of the Bill yet it will become apparent as we move on through it that there are many problems with it. In calling this Committee Stage, we are engaging in a charade because anything we say will be immaterial.

There is a real problem with the Bill given its failure to define the role and qualifications of the people who will be overseeing the application process. All the aspirations about a fair system of asylum and applying the highest standards mean nothing because they are not properly defined in the Bill.

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