Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill, which I will also support. One point must be emphasised, however. The purpose of the Bill is to bring Ireland in line with EU directives to strengthen the State's ability to fight the smuggling of people. However, issues affecting the welfare of asylum seekers remain woefully unaddressed and need to be tackled. Recently, we have heard horrendous accounts of the consequences of people smuggling. Let me make no bones about this - people smuggling is a big business with no morals and no regard for human welfare or dignity. That was made desperately and horrifically vivid to us in Essex two years ago when 39 adults and children died as they were being illegally smuggled. As far back in 2001, this horror visited our shores when eight lifeless bodies were discovered among 13 people in the back of a lorry in Wexford.

The profits made by the smuggling of people contribute to the international drugs trade, enforced prostitution, exploitation and other illegalities, such as violence and conflict. People smuggling must be tackled in a way that tells anyone involved that the full force of our judicial system will come down upon them if they engage in this inhumane and illegal business. That is why I am supportive of the Bill and the criminal sanctions it will enforce.

I also acknowledge that the Bill deals with the circumstances in which a person is brought into the country by a designated organisation for the purposes of seeking asylum. That is welcome. However, when giving this status to such an organisation, we must ensure it is extremely well vetted to avoid leaving room for exploitation.

As worthy and necessary as this Bill is, it does not address the problems that remain in the system for those who come to this State in search of asylum. At the Joint Committee on Public Petitions, we have regularly discussed the malfunctioning direct provision system. Thankfully, that is being transformed. What concerns me is the rate at which change is taking place. In September, the committee was told by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission that, as of the end of June, 4,430 international protection applicants were awaiting an interview.

That is too many and the issue must be addressed rapidly. An asylum seeker should be entitled to legal advice when arriving at reception stage. We were told by the Law Society of Ireland that too many people were still having to go through the preliminary international protection interviews without having received legal advice ahead of them. Vulnerability assessments formed the basis of a trauma-informed approach to international protection but Ireland was in breach of the EU's reception conditions directive for a number of years due to inaction. In December 2020, a pilot to tackle this was commenced and it was extended to all applicants from the beginning of February. With up to 886 applications received by the International Protection Office by September, only 268 applicants had entered the vulnerability assessment, with 161 completed and 107 ongoing. I do not want to criticise the efforts of the Aire to make good on the failures of the direct provision system but I felt that I should mention it. As welcome as the Bill that we are discussing is, it is not a panacea for the areas where we are still failing those who come to us for protection.

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