Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need a fair, efficient and enforced immigration system. To date, we have not had this. Our system over the past couple of years has been shambolic. We know that from people working in the system and genuine applicants. We can see what is happening on the ground. Things have been contradictory, with no coherence or consistency. We need a transparent and common sense system where the Irish people can trust the process. That is all anyone wants in terms of migration.

If the Government signs up this State to the EU migration pact, it will take away Ireland's ability to legislate in the best interests of Ireland and genuine asylum seekers. The Government will sign away the sovereign right for Ireland to make its own decisions that are right for this country and all of the people in the State, including those who have come from abroad and now called this State home. We in this Chamber have been elected to propose, debate, pass and enact legislation for this country and all who reside here.

That is our job. It is called democracy. It is our system that was hard fought for. It must be retained to allow us to enact legislation. The Government must not hand over our democratic mandate to legislate on migration to a European Commission which is not elected by the popular vote and is not accountable for decisions in the same way as we are. It is an illusion to pretend otherwise.

This is not about isolationism. There should be co-operation on certain matters We in Sinn Féin believe that the vast majority of measures contained in the EU asylum and migration pact are not in Ireland's best interests. Ireland can better create a fair, efficient and enforced rules-based system by exercising opt-outs from the majority of the pact's proposals.

Some decisions are better taken locally and a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. I cannot understand why the Government missed the fact that we happen to have a common travel area with Britain that is causing a share of problems at the moment. We have a common travel area. Our location on the map, on the edge of Europe, means we are in a different position. The Government does not seem to recognise that.

Most Irish people recognise where people are genuinely fleeing war, persecution or famine, they need protection and support. This is the position of the vast majority of people in the constituency I represent, Laois-Offaly. Most Irish people are fair minded. If the Government decides that key aspects of this pact are going to be ignored, we are in trouble. It must be for an Irish Government to decide on key positions in relation to our migration system, including rejecting unsuccessful applicants sooner, compiling our list of safe countries so that those who are not genuine asylum seekers can be rejected, and decide from what countries Ireland should take refugees, and verify departures. We must also ensure that those who are deemed to be genuine asylum seekers and have a genuine case are processed quickly and looked after. That is why Sinn Féin is voting "No" to the Government's proposal to fully opt in to the EU migration pact.

It is not a case of saying "No" for the sake of it. There are two sections of the pact that we could support but they are all tied in together now. They are practical and in the best interests of genuine asylum seekers. We need to be able to return those seeking to make an asylum application here, when there has been secondary movement and they have come from another country, to the country where they made an application, whether it is in Europe or elsewhere. That is why we support opting out of the regulation. We must also be able to access the fingerprint database to ensure we have more information on who enters the State and to assist in vetting, conducting checks, preventing and tackling child trafficking and returning asylum seekers, where appropriate, to where they travelled from. That is why we support the Eurodac regulation involving an international database which contains the fingerprint data and other information on asylum applicants who have been registered in EU member states or associated countries.

It makes sense to co-operate on certain issues. The policy of Ministers is to talk about isolationism but that was Fianna Fáil's approach in the 1950s. The world has moved on. We favour co-operation with the EU on the two points I outlined. Retaining the ability to enact legislation here in the Dáil for the State will be the best way to achieve a fair, efficient, rules-based and enforced system. Sinn Féin will vote "No" to the Government's proposal to opt fully in to this pact. The Government is ignoring the special position of Ireland regarding the common travel area. That is why we are voting "No" to this migration pact.

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