Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not think so. The Minister cannot stand over the distinction in the way we are now treating applicants from different countries. We have simply created an unacceptable division.

I understand Comhlámh has written a detailed letter to the Minister. I would like to know if the Minister has responded to that. They wrote to the Minister on 20 June appealing to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to address new and long-standing human rights concerns and so on They echo the recommendation from the round table on the theme, "Migration in our Common Home", chaired by Social Justice Ireland, that the human rights first approach should be the blueprint for a reshaping of Ireland’s international protection system. As a result of the war in Ukraine, the Minister made an announcement on that same day as it turned out that we were on target for delivering the targets in the White Paper. Obviously, that has not happened.

I welcome the structures the Minister has set up, such as the transition team, but then some its members were taken away to deal with the Ukrainian issue. Are they now back? Can the Minister deal with the policy issue? What will we do? Are we to continue with a discriminatory system because I could not stand over that?

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