Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin has been clear that where a person is not entitled to be in Ireland, he or she should be returned safely to his or her country of origin and that deportation orders should be both enforced and tracked. We need to have powers to immediately return those who are found not to be entitled to be here.

I am looking up behind the Minister at a statue of Cathal Brugha, Pádraig Pearse over here and James Connolly behind me. I firmly believe that an Irish Government is best placed to make decisions in the best interests of the Irish people, not unelected bureaucrats in faceless EU institutions making such decisions that undermine democracy. Ireland must resist this constant drive to hand over more of our sovereignty, power and control to the EU, including that in relation to migration policy or control of our borders. It is crucial that we retain what little bit of sovereignty we have left.

Last year, Sinn Féin strongly opposed the vast majority of measures in the EU asylum and migration pact because the majority of the pact's measures were not in Ireland's interests and ran contrary to the wishes of the Irish people as shown in numerous polls. Polls show that many communities believe that the current Government is implementing policies that are not in the interests of Irish citizens but are done at the behest of Brussels.

Sinn Féin supported opting into only two of the measures contained in the pact, namely, the asylum migration management regulation and the Eurodac regulation. We did so for two primary reasons. First, we have to be able to return those who seek to make an asylum application here to the first EU country that they entered or applied for asylum in before travelling onwards to Ireland. An applicant who has already been living in, for instance, France, Spain or Italy should not be able to arrive in Ireland and stay here having claimed asylum in those countries previously. Second, in relation to the Eurodac regulation, we have to be able to access the fingerprint database to ensure we have more information on those who enter the State, assist with vetting and conducting checks, and return asylum seekers to other EU countries, if appropriate. Eurodac would help with tackling child trafficking into Ireland for sexual exploitation, a scandal that was well documented in the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, evaluation report on progress to combat human trafficking. We know that the vast majority of Irish people want to see this commonsensical approach as well as an end to the speculative and greedy cash cow approach to the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, centres that have been imposed on local communities by the Government across Ireland.

Protocol No. 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, TFEU, came into effect in its current form in the Lisbon treaty in 2009. Protocol No. 21 provides, through the opt-out, the choice to opt into legislation adopted to govern areas of freedom, security and justice on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately, it is a growing trend of the Government to seek to opt into EU measures in areas of freedom, security and justice where Ireland enjoys the right to opt out. This shows shocking disregard for Irish sovereignty. Crucially, once a country opts in, it cannot opt out.

The withdrawal of the motion, with only 24 hours' notice, on the returns regulations reinforces everything that Sinn Féin has been saying from the very beginning, namely, that we should not opt into such motions under Article 3 of Protocol No. 21. It is concerning that the Government was planning to push through an Article 3 opt-in on a regulation where it has now been revealed that Ireland's manner of participation is still under discussion with EU counterparts. This is alarming and it should be a wake-up call for anyone who thinks it makes sense to hand the Government a blank cheque in relation to such regulations.

For Sinn Féin, the issue comes down to sovereignty. This is paramount, considering the three motions under question today. We see a constant drip-drip handing over of our sovereignty to the EU. This undermines democracy and our ability as a country to act in the best interests of the Irish people.

Unless there is a compelling reason to the contrary, Ireland should be making its own decisions on the issues for consideration in these motions, which are, basically, designation of safe countries of origin, designation of safe third countries and the transition of Ukrainians out of temporary protection, which we must expedite. It is crazy to extend this to March 2027. It did not have Government approval and it certainly does not have the approval of the Irish people. We must also assist in the efforts towards peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and a commitment to encourage Ukrainians to return to their homeland once peace is restored.

Taking three significant proposed regulations as part of one debate on a quiet Thursday afternoon in July shows no commitment whatsoever to sovereignty, democracy or ensuring proper scrutiny. Ireland should not opt into these motions under Article 3, as proposed by the Government, under any circumstances.

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