Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to speak to amendment No. 77 which reads as follows:

In page 34, line 19, after “repeated” to insert the following:

“but compelling reasons arising out of previous persecution or serious harm alone may nevertheless warrant a determination that the applicant is eligible for protection”.

The rationale behind the amendment is that a provision under section 5(2) of SI 518, the European Communities (Eligibility for Protection) Regulations, provides for this exception where a person may be so traumatised or have experienced such horrendous persecution in the past that it was deemed inhumane to send him or her back, even if objectively there were good reasons to believe that such persecution or serious harm would not be repeated. This is good and humane practice which should be maintained in the context of the future protection system.

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