Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is very welcome. It is a great piece of work that has come to us at this stage. It is probably appropriate that it is in front of the House at this time of year. I have known the Minister of State well for many years. I do not think the words he has read reflect where he has been and where he would like to be. I think the way in which the straight dismissal of this Bill has been stated is the wrong approach. Following a meeting of the Committee on Procedure earlier this week, it was announced that new Standing Orders in respect of money messages are to come before this House on Tuesday week. They will provide, for the first time, for a system that will allow Private Members' Bills proposed by Opposition Deputies and Government backbenchers to progress through the Houses. Under the new approach, when there is a flaw in such a Bill, the flaw will be addressed as part of a collaborative approach and the Bill as a whole will not be rejected. The Government's first port of call will not be to dismiss the Bill out of hand.

I understand the Minister of State's point that ministerial discretion must be retained. He is a benevolent man. Other Ministers in his position have been quite open too. However, there have also been horrendous Ministers in the Department of Justice and Equality over the years. I know that every time a case came before them, they refused it point blank.

There have been horrendous people in the Department who have continually refused applications which on appeal, even though there is no appeal, had to be upheld or overturned. In every system there is good and bad. Ministerial discretion can often lead to bad policy. We experience it in the House when somebody comes to us. Some of the organisations that have helped to facilitate the Bill such as Oxfam or the Irish Refugee Council come to us. We will highlight it on Joe Duffy's show. We know if we put enough pressure on Joe Duffy, The Star, The Sunor whatever vehicle we use to profile a case, the Minister has the discretion which he will use rather than take the flak from the public. There have been recent cases of deportation orders sitting there when all of a sudden the Minister wheels in and, bang, there is no problem and it is sorted. It is the same type of discretion. We have had policies of discretion over the years in other areas of Government policy. Look at what some of those led us to. I am not saying it is black and white but we need to remind ourselves who we are talking about. We are talking about people who have been separated as a result of wars, humanitarian crises and calamities. In some cases, they have been separated because we facilitated wars through Shannon. We have contributed to them ending up arriving on our shores. We have seen it in Yemen where whole villages have disappeared. A family member might not be a blood relative but the last surviving resident of a town that has been obliterated. It might be a tsunami. It might be a humanitarian disaster. The concept of family can be slightly different from that which refers to a direct relative.

It is important we also take note of what has already been said in the Houses of the Oireachtas by Senator Kelleher and others who have discussed it in the Seanad and members of my party and others who have supported it. The report of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality on the refugee crisis is also supportive of the Bill. In a recommendation on family unification it called on the Government to introduce a humanitarian admissions programme to offer a safe and legal route for people to flee conflicts and be reunited with family members. The Minister of State announced some of the steps being taken. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, made an announcement about 36 unaccompanied minors earlier today. We welcome it. They will reach here and in a year's time if they have not managed to locate their families it will be their hard luck. It will be as if they have no family members and they do not exist. If, in five years' time, the family appears, the Government has made it much more difficult.

The Bill is not complete. We can add to it. It could amend section 56(9) of the Act to clarify that a sponsor can include a person who applied for protection as a minor but did not receive the positive direction until after he or she aged out. I am frustrated listening to the debate. Perhaps I am here too long. I have listened to many debates on immigration and refugee issues. I would love if the bureaucracy was at an end. In his speech, the Minister of State praised Ireland as one of the most accessible in the EU. God love us. I do not think so. I have not heard that from anyone in Europe. The Minister of State stated in his speech "Our current legal provisions remain the most accessible in the EU and our discretionary humanitarian responses are to the forefront of European initiatives." There are countries that close all their borders and do exactly what those idiots outside the House will do. I welcome we do not have that approach in Ireland. There are other countries that are a lot more open.

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