Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What we are debating today is whether Ireland should opt in fully and wholesale to the EU migration pact. Sinn Féin's position is crystal clear and it is that we should not. It is not in Ireland's interest. Ireland and Europe have seen a significant increase in migration rates for a number of years. In 2019 the number of people applying for international protection in the State was less than 5,000. Last year the number was more than 13,000, almost tripling it in the space of four years. By the end of last month 107,000 PPS numbers had been issued to Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection.

How migration is managed or mismanaged impacts almost every facet of our economy and society, including the provisions of our public services, our social cohesion and the demands on our housing system. This year the number of asylum applications is likely to be in the region of 25,000. That as a State we would essentially give up on our ability to take key decisions to respond to this is the wrong call for Ireland. Why would we opt into an EU pact that, should our asylum system become overwhelmed, would not allow us to depart from ordinary procedures regarding supports and accommodation without getting approval from the EU? It is a loss of sovereignty restricting the State's ability to act and respond quickly.

Why would we pursue a wholesale adoption of this pact, which would open us up to the possibility of infringement proceedings and fines for issues that can and should be addressed at home nationally? Why, as a small and neutral country, should we allow the European Union to determine from which conflicts and countries we should take programme refugees? These are decisions that we can and should address here nationally. We can create and manage a fair, efficient and enforced migration system without a blanket and indiscriminate opt-in to this EU pact. Our asylum system and migration system are in crisis. This fact is no better illustrated than by the spectre of tents pitched across the city or the sight of a poor and vulnerable woman taking a bucket of water from the River Liffey for her personal use at her tent.

As I have said, in the region of 25,000 asylum applications are expected this year. If last year's trend continues then 62% of them will have their asylum applications refused by the international protection office. This is more than 15,000 refusals and determinations that people are not entitled to refuge here in the State. Those who are refused in the past, as will those who will be refused in future, wait months and even years to be processed or notified of the refusal and then there are genuine questions as to whether the decisions will ever be enforced. On the other hand, vulnerable people fleeing war and persecution, who are entitled to protection here, face unacceptable conditions in the State.

I believe the Irish people are compassionate. Our values are those of decency and fairness and this is what people want to see. The reality is decent and compassionate people are questioning the fairness of the system operating at present. Is it fair that individuals who are only a few euro above the medical card threshold are denied it and the entitlements it provides, while certain temporary protection beneficiaries gain automatic entitlement to it regardless of their income and their employment status? These differences, which are being made, are undermining social cohesion.

Where housing and accommodation are in such short supply the Government has created a system whereby some temporary protection applicants have greater access to private rental accommodation, with landlords getting €800 tax free from the State by renting out accommodation to beneficiaries of temporary protection, providing more money to them than they would get if they rented out in the private market in many areas throughout the State. It has built in an incentive for landlords to accept one over the other when the housing needs of both are acute.

With almost 4,000 additional rental homes being provided to beneficiaries of temporary protection so far this year, an additional 1,000 each month, we can see why more and more people question the fairness of this. It is provided regardless of income and employment status. How can this do anything other than create competition, resentment and inequality where an already dysfunctional rental market exists?

These are only hairline fractures in the Government's asylum and migration policy. The deeper cracks in the system are leading to inhumane conditions for the vulnerable and creating discord in our communities. Instead of addressing these failings and creating an immigration system that is fair, efficient and enforced, we now have the prospect of the Government taking a leap into the dark with a wholesale opt-in to this migration pact. There are only two elements of the pact that are in Ireland's interest to adopt. These are returning those who seek to make an asylum application here to the first country where they sought international protection in the solidarity clause and sharing the fingerprint database.

The Minister wishes to portray this pact as the solution to our problems when, in fact, we can do much of what it provides right here and right now. This is the wrong decision. It is an all-or-nothing approach that will restrict our ability to determine our own migration rules, binding us to regulations that will undermine our sovereignty and lead to bad outcomes. It should be for an Irish Government to decide on the key pillars of our migration system. Signing into this migration pact wholesale and outsourcing our immigration policy to the EU is not the solution. It is not in Ireland's interest and it should be rejected in the Dáil.

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