Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that this is on the agenda for all of the Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings that I attend. I will be at one again next week. I was at one only a couple of weeks ago. We have spent years debating and seeking to agree the new migration pact, which I am pleased to say has finally been agreed. The pact will allow an approach where we have a better, more transparent and more efficient system where we have better co-operation between member states. I am trying to make sure that if people have asylum in another country and come here, they are returned to that country of origin and that we have co-operation from member states for this to happen. The system we have at the moment, the Dublin regulation, as it is called, does not allow for that because member states do not really have to co-operate with each other. If we are to respond to a massive increase to people on the move globally and if we are to provide legal pathways for people because we have a shortage of workers here, we need to make sure we are looking at what we need and how we can apply our legal routes, but also, where we have illegal migration, we need to work collectively to try to respond and to put measures in place. There is a perception that Ireland is an easy touch in the context of its rules. If one looks at the number of people who are given asylum and whose applications are approved, however, one will see that it either matches or is below the EU average in this regard. The Deputy is right that people want to have facts. I will do what I can as Minister to make sure those facts are clear to people.

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