Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 as regards the establishment of a list of safe countries of origin at Union level, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 16th May, 2025.

For the convenience of colleagues who may not be here but who may be watching the proceedings on a screen, I will probably not take the full 35 minutes.

The Chair will be aware that the central priority of the Government is to have an immigration system in the country that is robust and in which the people can have confidence. Ireland is committed to supporting and advancing the development of a common European system of asylum to provide a consistent, fair and efficient asylum procedure in ordinary times and also in times of crisis, which we certainly saw last year when 18,500 people came to Ireland seeking asylum. For this reason, I ask that the House approve the three motions before it this afternoon, which seek permission to allow Ireland to opt into the three proposals in the field of international and temporary protection.

The Chair will also be aware that the legal basis on which we seek to opt into these proposals is pursuant to Article 3 of Protocol 21. Ireland has an option when it comes to opting in. It can opt in pursuant to Article 3 or pursuant to Article 4. With respect to the three motions before the House today, I seek the permission of Dáil Eireann to permit Ireland to opt in pursuant to Article 3, which gives us an opportunity to get involved in the negotiation of the legislative instrument before it is finalised.

In 2024, Ireland opted in, under Article 4 of Protocol 21, to seven non-Schengen measures of what was referred to as the migration pact, including the asylum procedures regulation, APR. On 29 April 2025, I brought before the Government a memorandum seeking Government approval for the drafting of a new international protection Bill to replace the current one, which has been in place for ten years. The purpose of the new Bill is to reform the system of asylum applications in Ireland and ensure we are transposing into Irish law the requirements of our membership and the agreement to take on board the content of the migration pact.

On 16 April 2025, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation amending the APR as regards the establishment of a list of safe countries of origin at Union level. This relates to the first of the three motions. The APR provides, for the first time in EU law, for the possibility and conditions to designate safe countries of origin at Union level. The possibility for member states to designate countries as safe countries of origin at national level is retained. This, in particular, is something I wanted to emphasise. Members will be aware that under section 72 of the International Protection Act 2015, Ireland is entitled to designate countries as safe countries of origin for the purpose of the asylum application process. That statutory power will remain when the new Bill is enacted next year. What we are seeking to do here is recognise that parallel to that will be an EU system whereby the EU can designate countries as safe.

The current proposal of the EU is to designate all EU candidate countries as safe. These countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine. It is also proposed at EU level to designate the following non-candidate countries as safe: Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia.

That would continue alongside the national power that Ireland and all other member states would retain to designate their own list of safe countries.

As I have stated, under section 72 of the 2015 Act, I can make an order designating a country as a safe country of origin. To date in Ireland, 15 countries have been designated by us as safe countries of origin under section 72, namely, Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Egypt, Georgia, India, Kosovo, Malawi, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Serbia and South Africa. It must however be noted that the application of section 72 will not be affected by the proposed amendment to the asylum procedures regulation I am seeking permission to opt in to here.

Comparing the list of countries that Ireland has designated as safe under section 72 with the proposal for the EU-wide list of countries, we see there is considerable overlap. The only real difference is that on the EU list, there are three further countries, namely, Turkey, Tunisia and Colombia, which three countries have not yet been designated by Ireland as safe countries of origin. The agreement of a list of safe countries of origin at Union level would contribute to the objective of enhancing co-operation on return and readmission as a part of the comprehensive approach to migration set out in the proposed new international protection Bill and in the other EU legislative proposals contained within the pact. That is the first motion, seeking the approval of Dáil Éireann for permission for us to opt in pursuant to Article 3 of Protocol 21 to the EU-wide list of safe countries of origin.

The second proposal and second motion concerns another matter which is referred to as "safe third countries". Safe third countries are different from safe countries of origin. Safe countries of origin are the place from where the applicant emanates. Safe third countries are places to which an applicant from another country may go or may be returned to. On 20 May 2025, the Commission published a proposal for a regulation amending the asylum procedure regulation as regards the application of the safe third country concept. This allows member states to determine an international protection application is inadmissible when the applicant could receive effective protection in a safe third country, considered safe for the applicant. Currently, by virtue of section 72A of the 2015 Act, I can designate by order a country as a safe third country. Only one country to date has been designated under the 2015 Act as a safe third country, namely, the UK including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

The asylum procedure regulation will govern the safe third country concept at an EU level when measures come into effect in June 2026 with the enactment of the international protection Bill. Under the proposed amendments, the connection criterion will remain, but there will be two further alternatives. One is that the concept can be applied based on transit through a safe third country before reaching the EU. The other is on the basis of an arrangement or agreement with a safe third country ensuring the examination of requests for effective protection in that country.

As the EU intensifies efforts to establish an effective and safe migration policy, it is important that Ireland is strategically aligned with fellow member states on a multilateral basis to benefit from opportunities and address challenges. We have seen what happened when the United Kingdom decided to respond to illegal migration of its own accord by leaving the European Union. Things have got considerably worse for that country in terms of illegal migration. It is important and advisable that a country such as Ireland should seek to align ourselves and harmonise our approach with other EU countries. Ireland’s strategic role in relation to migration decisions will be strengthened through its participation in migration measures at EU level. A decision to opt in to these proposals would demonstrate Ireland's commitment to a common EU-wide solution to migration, as evidenced by our opting in to the series of EU legislative proposals that I outlined earlier. Opting in to this safe third country proposal under Article 3 of Protocol 21 would allow Ireland to influence the proposals during the legislative process, giving potential to mitigate any aspects of the proposals that may cause difficulties for Ireland.

At this stage I should pause and say that, as Members of the House will be aware, when it comes to Protocol 21 there are two options available to Ireland. We can opt in under Article 3, as I am proposing here in respect of the safe third countries and safe country of origin measures. We also have the power to opt in under Article 4. The difference between opting in under Article 3 and Article 4 is that under the former, we participate in negotiations and play a significant part in trying to get agreement for the outcome and conclusion of the legislative proposal. When it comes to Article 4, however, we see the finished proposal and then decide ourselves whether we wish to opt in to it. There are advantages and disadvantages in respect of both. It is the case that historically and recently, Ireland has availed of Article 4 more than Article 3.

Before I go on to deal with the other opt-in I am seeking the permission of Dáil Éireann to carry through, I refer to the return regulation, an issue that had originally been listed as a legislative proposal which I wished to get the permission of Dáil Éireann to opt in to under Article 3. On 11 March 2025, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation establishing a common system for the return of third country nationals staying illegally in the European Union. Opting in to this proposal would demonstrate Ireland's commitment to a common EU-wide solution to migration which is already evidenced by our opting in to those other measures which make up the pact. The returns proposal has been constructed by the Commission as a hybrid measure with both a Schengen and non-Schengen legal basis to facilitate the participation of Ireland and Schengen member states and Schengen associated countries. The particular manner of Ireland’s participation is still under discussion with EU counterparts given the complexity of the hybrid legal basis issue. The issue will be formally discussed by all member states in the relevant working group next Monday. I want to reflect on the outcome of that discussion, and if the emerging consensus from that discussion among member states is that it would be preferable and more beneficial for Ireland to seek an opt-in under Article 4, instead of Article 3, I will then ask officials to pursue that path. I will seek the approval of the Houses regarding same in due course.

In respect of the returns proposal, what I am stating is that I want first to have engagement with the European Union to see what the consequences would be of opting in under Article 3, and what the benefits or consequences would be of opting in pursuant to Article 4. I will be in a much better position to make a determination on that after Monday. If the advice I receive is that an opt-in pursuant to Article 4 is more favourable to Ireland and is preferable, I will come back to this House to seek permission to opt in, probably next year or late this year.

I will now deal with the third proposal that is on the agenda for today, which concerns temporary protection. I am also seeking to get the permission of Dáil Éireann to permit Ireland to opt in to this Council recommendation on a co-ordinated approach. Colleagues are aware that on 4 June 2025, the Commission published a proposal for a Council recommendation on a co-ordinated approach to the transition out of temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine. Given the inherent temporary nature of the temporary protection directive, it is accepted that even if the war in Ukraine remains protracted, temporary protection must come to an end.

The Commission has published a proposal for a Council recommendation on a co-ordinated approach to the transition out of temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine. The four sets of measures promote the transition into other legal statuses before the end of temporary protection, ensure smooth and sustainable reintegration in Ukraine, ensure the provision of information to displaced persons and enhance co-ordination, monitoring and exchange of information among member states and Ukrainian authorities to monitor and support reintegration efforts. The proposed Council recommendation will not be binding in nature; rather, it is an important tool to support a co-ordinated EU-wide exit from temporary protection. Providing a roadmap for an orderly exit from temporary protection, this recommendation is essential to meeting one of the key objectives of activating the temporary protection directive, which is to protect the member states international protection system, while acknowledging that many persons enjoying temporary protection have been in the Union for several years.

The third proposal before the House today seeks to get the permission of Dáil Éireann to permit us to opt-in to those proposals in respect of temporary protection. One thing I am certain of when it comes to temporary protection that was granted in respect of persons fleeing Ukraine is that there must be a co-ordinated response by the European Union to how that temporary protection should come to an end. Everyone recognises because of its name that temporary protection cannot go on forever. It must come to an end. However, it would be extremely dangerous if Ireland were to adopt a unilateral approach and to say we should just bring temporary protection to an end for ourselves. The effect of that would be the 90,000 people from Ukraine who are in Ireland at present would all apply for international protection. We have managed to get the numbers of people seeking international protection down in Ireland significantly from where they were last year. For the first six months of this year, there have been approximately 6,000 applicants. In total, last year there were 18,500 applications. We are on target to have a lesser number than was the case in 2024 and, indeed, in 2023 and 2022. What we do not want to do is to completely disrupt our system of international protection, which is working faster at present, by telling the 80,000 or 90,000 Ukrainian people who have temporary protection they no longer have it and they would then have to apply for international protection. That is the reason it is appropriate to have a harmonised and co-ordinated response by the European Union to how temporary protection should end.

We do not want to see a situation where people from Ukraine in different EU countries are looking around saying let us head to Ireland or Czechia as there are better services there, or there is more preferential treatment in one country over another. We want to ensure that there is a harmonised response across the Union to how this process is terminated.

It is important for Ireland to opt-in to these three proposals to ensure Ireland's immigration system is robust, but also it is effective and efficient. Opting-in will underline Ireland's commitment to EU values and support for the EU's migration system. It would demonstrate Ireland's continued solidarity with our EU partners. It would also show that we have a harmonised agreed approach in response to the big challenge of asylum applications in respect of Europe in the 21st century.

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