Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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2. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she is aware that over 160 civil society organisations from across the European Union have issued a statement against the EU migration pact stating it will have devastating implications for the right to international protection in the EU and greenlight abuses across Europe, including racial profiling, default de facto detention and pushbacks and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17849/24]

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There has been lots of commentary about the EU migration pact. Over 160 civil society organisations have stated that it will have a detrimental effect on migrants' rights across the EU so I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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We have just had a good debate and a number of questions at the Joint Committee on Justice on this matter. I start by assuring the Deputy that I am keenly aware that the right to asylum is a fundamental right in the EU guaranteed by the treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and confirmed by the proposals under the pact on migration and asylum. The EU asylum and migration pact will ensure Europe acts as a collective in terms of how migration, and in particular asylum, is managed to ensure the system is firmer but also that it continues to be fair.

Protections in relation to fundamental rights for international protection applicants are provided for throughout the process with additional safeguards for children and unaccompanied children, including legal representation and a multidisciplinary age assessment. Additional safeguards have been also incorporated in relation to families with minors to ensure their processing is prioritised once admitted into the border procedure and that they always reside in facilities that comply with the reception conditions directive.

Of course, the people of Ireland are deeply conscious of our moral and legal responsibility to those fleeing war and persecution. The pact will accelerate the processing of international protection applications. Those who are entitled to international protection will be granted it and it will make it easier to return those found not to be entitled to protection. It will introduce greater security checking of applicants. It will reduce the volume of secondary movement and make it easier to transfer applicants to the member state responsible. It will reduce the amount of time people spend in state-provided accommodation and support the return of people found not to be entitled to protection. The asylum and migration pact has therefore been designed to establish a common approach to migration and asylum that is based on solidarity, responsibility and, importantly, respect for human rights. That will not change if we opt into it, as I hope we do. This is about making sure that those who genuinely need our protection can access it. A point was raised earlier, namely, that just because the system is condensed or made faster does not mean that the rights of individuals are not in any way affected. People's individual rights will be protected even if it is through an accelerated procedure, which is being proposed in this directive.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There has been lots of commentary about this pact. Those on the left will be voting against it while those on the far right will be voting against it for very different reasons. The issue of asylum and finding sanctuary in the EU was tainted well before this. A toxic mix of xenophobia, hatred and division is being stoked up by those on the far right who are trying to whip up division not only in Ireland but across the EU. I believe this pact erodes the fundamental pillars of the EU, which are about human rights. This degrades human rights in terms of immigrants' rights in coming to the EU.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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You could say the fact that there are people on the extreme left and right with opposing views and we are somewhere in the middle means that we may have got it somewhat right. I assure the Deputy, and I speak on my own behalf but also - I think - on behalf of the vast majority of people in this country, that we are and have always been a welcoming country. I believe our colleagues, friends and member states across the EU are very much in that space as well. However, we need to ensure we have a system that works and is fair to those who genuinely need it. Those who do not have a right to apply for asylum are creating a backlog and challenges for those who genuinely need to access protection. We need a system that protects and supports those who need to access protection but also creates legal pathways and routes. While the migration and asylum pact is specifically looking at those seeking international protection, we are developing and working it hand in hand with other measures on which the EU is very much focused, such as looking at the root causes of why people are moving and looking at how we can have greater levels of legal migration. We have full employment in this country. We need more people to come here and work so there are a number of other things we need to do and we are doing working collectively to try to address the need of people to come here.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I agree. I think Ireland is a very welcoming place. Let us hope it stays that way. When you drill down into this pact, you see a semblance of, for want of a better word, internment of adults and sometimes children. Human rights advocates are saying that migration is being weaponised by those who want to malign migrants coming to the EU. This is a bad day for human rights, particularly in the European sense. This is a dangerous crossroads in terms of the rights of everybody in the EU. The basic pillar of the EU back in the 1950s was the rights of everybody regardless of where you come from and the colour of your skin but this pact is a backwards step in terms of human rights for everybody who wants to come to the EU to work.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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It is important to be clear that we are not proposing to detain people. While we will have a border procedure and people coming through that procedure will be in specific accommodation, they will not be detained. We will not have fences or people in a prison-type facility. That is not what we are proposing here and I do not think it is what we should ever propose. However, we have structure and a system that works. If we do not have a system that can process people quickly, get through applications quickly and quickly identify who needs our help, it is much harder to get to those who genuinely do. It is the case that people will seek to come to Ireland or the rest of the EU for economic reasons, which is why it is really important we have separate routes and separate mechanisms for them to do that. There are separate conversations that are happening but very much in parallel with this. This is about those seeking asylum. If you have a system that does not protect those seeking asylum, we are not fulfilling our obligations. The pact itself does not erode people's rights and ability to apply for asylum. It just makes sure we can do it in a more efficient and effective way that benefits those who are genuine.