Dáil debates

Friday, 1 July 2022

Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage

 

10:20 am

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Fair play to you. Thanks for giving me the direction. One would wonder why that is. None of these provisions is new or newly foisted on the Government. The issues addressed in this have been around for a long time, since the Ukrainian crisis arose. The Stardust issues, unfortunately, have been around for an awful lot longer. This Bill could have been introduced in a timely fashion and been discussed during the normal sittings, instead of us taking statements for weeks on end. Why has the Government waited for the jaws of the summer recess to foist it upon us and say it has to be rushed through?

It is great to see so many Ukrainian people settled within our communities and I know many communities, like mine in Killybegs, have done all they can to make them feel welcome and safe in their temporary home. That is vital. Fleeing war is an incredibly traumatic experience and we must do all we can to ensure these people are supported fully. To do this it is important that those living here under this temporary protection directive have all the tools and supports necessary to fully participate in our society. It is important to say that, unfortunately, Ukrainians are in some cases being taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers and stuff like that. What needs to be made available to them, and maybe they are looking at it, is access to the protections they require to ensure this does not happen. Unfortunately, in every situation we get, this is what we get in our societies.

I reiterate my call to extend this directive beyond Ukrainians to all those living in Ukraine. Citizenship should not matter when you are fleeing war and seeking protection. We should extend the directive even further and implement its provisions in response to various other humanitarian crises too. Everyone deserves safe and humane living conditions no matter what their citizenship or which country they are fleeing from. One of the most depressing things in the Ukrainian situation was that citizens of other countries living and working in Ukraine were refused entry to the European Union, including Ireland, because they were non-Ukrainian citizens. You would have to say sadly that it is because they were not white. They happened to be living in Ukraine, suffered the consequences of the war as much as any Ukrainian citizen did and had to leave. I had a case of someone whose brother was living and working in Ireland and would have been able to look after them and take them in, but they were refused entry because they were not Ukrainian. That is wrong. We have to look at and address that in the future.

I am heartened by the response of so many in this country who opened their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war. They have demonstrated the kindness of Irish people and I know that, if given the opportunity, they would happily open their homes to others fleeing war. I am glad the Bill proposes to give them a monthly contribution of €400. We should do all we can to support Irish families in their effort to support Ukrainian families.

Although I am glad that Part 4 is taking the opportunity to do so now, I am disappointed that it has taken this crisis to address long-standing issues within our immigration system. Allowing for registration with immigration authorities throughout the country, rather than in Dublin only, will make a huge difference, particularly to immigrants in my constituency of Donegal, where this is a huge barrier. I hope this will be available to all immigrants, rather than just Ukrainian immigrants.

I also support the Bill's provisions for the appointment of more registration officers and the introduction of an online registration process.

Online registration for those engaging with the immigration process should have been introduced a long time ago. It would make registration much more accessible and would significantly help with the language barrier experienced by many when engaging with the immigration process. The explanatory memorandum states that in response to the Ukrainian crisis "a number of legislative gaps were identified". I do not believe that these gaps were only identified following the Ukrainian crisis. We have long known of gaps in the system but, sadly, there just has not been any will to address or close them before now.

I have concerns about data protection with regard to Part 5. I do not see why so much documentation is required. I also do not believe that seven days is sufficient to produce such documentation and I hope the Minister looks into extending this to 30 days instead.

I fully support this Bill's special provisions for the empanelling and summoning of a jury for the Stardust inquest. Like other speakers, I was approximately the same age, although slightly younger, as the people who died in the Stardust tragedy. It is shocking that it has taken this long to resolve the issues and to go through the process. Those families have suffered greatly and have had to wait a very long time for the issues to be dealt with. I hope that this will remove the last barrier and ensure that they can have the full process they deserve. This is something that impacted on everybody in the State. It is difficult to accept that it has taken so long to get it resolved. Some 14 pre-hearing meetings have been held but no jury hearings have yet taken place. I support the amendments to current legislation to ensure that a person empanelled to an inquest hearing will continue to be paid by their employer for the duration of the inquest since this is the standard procedure for jury trials in the court system. We must ensure that jury selection is completely transparent and that the inquest proceeds as planned in September to ensure no more pain is inflicted on the Stardust families, who have been fighting for the truth for more than four decades.

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