Results 3,741-3,760 of 15,298 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: With particular regard to the returns border procedure, which will not apply to us because we are not in Schengen, it is mandatory for people to be removed within the 12-week time period after they have been given their decision within the first three months. The border procedure is three months. That is everything from start to appeals. The EU and those in Schengen would have to remove...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: We are already reducing the timeframes. When I was first elected, I remember visiting people in Mosney, which is in my constituency, where they were seven or eight years in the system for an average or ordinary application. While the timeframes have gone slightly up in the last few years, it is because our numbers have gone from 3,000 to 13,000. The average timeframe is under two years,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: On the first question, it will be one piece of legislation. The way that this has been negotiated, and the way that we see it, is that while they are separate measures they are all interlinked. We will be repealing the legislation that is currently there and bringing this forward. There is a very tight timeframe but I believe we need to do it within the timeline presented. With regard...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: If somebody is transiting through but has been identified and stopped at the border, there is the new screening process, which would apply to Schengen. For example, if the person landed in Paris, he or she would be checked and put on the system, so France would be designated as the first country.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: Yes. If somebody is coming through France, once they have arrived there, and if they have arrived with a visa or have valid papers, then obviously not if they then come to another country and claim asylum separate from that. If, however, they are going through France and have valid permission to do so, it does not apply if they then apply here in Ireland. That is a separate question. If,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: If they have arrived and it is identified. We will mirror the Eurodac system so we will be able to identify whether they have come up on the system as someone who has sought asylum, transited through or come up on the screening system. If they have not, they can go through our border procedure, but only if they do not have documents, if they have false documents, if they pop up as a risk on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: There will be an enhanced screening system for Schengen countries. That is part of the overall practice. While we are not in Schengen and do not have that, we would try to mirror that in our own legislation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: Do any of which?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: They will all require legislation but they will all have a positive impact. They will all have a direct effect here in Ireland, whether it is the faster processing, the application of crisis situations, the enhanced Eurodac system or our aligning ourselves in terms of material reception conditions. All the measures here will have an impact, but we will require legislation for all of them as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: That is already the case for safe countries. While we make the decision, there are countries we have designated as safe that others have not, and other countries have designated other countries as safe where we have not. It is up to us to decide what is a safe country, but there are parameters and guidelines to which we must adhere. That is already the case and that will not change. At...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: No. That is something we will set in legislation. While there are the two-, three- and six-month periods, it is for us to decide how long the appeals process would take. As for those in Schengen, for the border procedure, that will be set at 12 weeks. We could mirror that and apply the same rules, but for any of the other appeals we set the timeline within which we want them to take...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: That is not something we can do. Like anything that goes beyond our courts, that is not something we can put a timeline on, but we can put a timeline on the appeals, and that is what we will discuss through the legislation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: What we have seen already with the fast processing is that where people receive a negative decision much more quickly, they are more likely to leave, and they leave much more quickly. There are people who do not want a deportation order or negative decisions on their applications. As regards the voluntary returns process, which we are enhancing and on which we are working with people who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: As is the case with any of the options to opt in, if we do not opt in within the earlier period, we do not have a say in how they are implemented and how they are developed. That is why-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: If we have opted in to a particular measure, and if it is amended later, we would have to opt in again.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: That is what we are doing now. What we are talking about opting in to are amended versions of what we had opted in to before. If what the Senator suggests were to happen as regards the new Dublin III regulation, for example, we would not be discussing opting in; it would just be forced upon us. That is not what is happening, however. What we are doing is deciding, since this is an amended...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: In 2026.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: No, is the answer to the first question. We have helped to develop all seven of the proposals and there is nothing in any of them that does not benefit Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: No, because we developed all seven of them. All seven will benefit-----