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

Progress has been made with the British Government. There is very good engagement between my Department and the Home Office. The only way we will be able to resolve the issues of concern to the Deputy and me is through collaboration and co-operation with the British Government. He keeps mentioning that we should not have opted in to the pact, but he must then present to the public the consequence of that. The consequence of not opting in is that the 2015 International Protection Act would still apply, as would the 2004 directives giving effect to that. It is not as simple as saying that we should not have opted in to the pact. If we had not opted in to the pact, we would still have the same issue under the 2015 legislation and that does not resolve the issue we are facing. There needs to be an awareness that opting in to the pact has not precluded us from doing what we want to do. The reason we have had a significant change is that the British have left the European Union. It is as a result of the British leaving the EU that we have this issue in our common travel area. I would appreciate if Deputy Carthy and Sinn Féin would say that the common travel area is for the benefit of citizens of Ireland and the UK and not for anyone else. That would be a considerable contribution.

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