Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this important and long-overdue Bill. Its increase in the mandatory retirement age for uniformed public servants, including members of An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service and the Defence Forces, from 60 to 62 is welcome. However, we need to address the root causes behind so many of our gardaí leaving. We know that morale is at rock bottom and the Commissioner does not have a favourable reputation among the rank and file. This is a profoundly serious matter.

Part 3 will amend the Immigration Act 2003 to increase carrier liability fines to €5,000 where a carrier allows someone to board an aeroplane entering the State without proper documentation. What can I say other than that this is welcome, but why has this commonsensical measure taken so long? It should have been in place long ago, as it was entirely foreseeable that there would be issues. We did not need the EU asylum pact for this particular step.

As the Minister knows, I have been at the forefront in pushing for measures of this kind. Indeed, I have been tabling parliamentary questions and making interventions on these issues for a couple of years. Recently, she informed me in a reply that there had been 3,040 doorstep operations by the Border management unit and the Garda National Immigration Bureau at Dublin Airport up to the end of May, with nearly 800 last month alone. This is welcome, but why did there need to be a crisis of unsustainable numbers entering the country, including illegal immigrants, before action could be taken? There must be a permanent and significant ramping up of immigration controls. We simply have to send the signal out loud and clear that the days of our cherished country being taken for an international soft touch are over. We also need to ramp up the State’s limited capacity to detain people who have been refused leave to land at Dublin Airport. This is a matter I have been raising in parliamentary questions since last August. At that point, the Minister informed me that there was a facility at the airport that had been operational since March 2022, but as I understand it, gardaí only have the capacity to house up to four passengers there. I would like clarity on this issue. If true, more work needs to be done to increase capacity.

The measures being introduced in this Bill are better late than never, but they remain the tip of the iceberg of what needs to happen in terms of vigorous and robust measures to deter illegal immigration.

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