Results 10,681-10,700 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am not in a position to say the number of asylum seekers refused permission to land because no such category exists. Ireland has one of the most liberal and generous asylum regimes in the EU. A group of people in Irish politics believes we run a draconian regime because we do not allow ourselves to be trampled over. The flow of asylum seekers to Ireland has diminished because I strengthened...

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: It is because across Europe the justice and home affairs ministers have been taking a co-ordinated line on this. Measures such as the Eurodac system and the Dublin 2 regulations are creating a climate that is less open to abuse by asylum seekers. Ireland still has a system that is generous to genuine asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: The system is also effective in sorting the genuine asylum seekers from the economic migrants posing as asylum seekers. I make no apology for the effectiveness of the system in distinguishing the two categories.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I uphold constitutional values to the letter and in the spirit of the Constitution. Where parents come to Ireland with an infant child or have a child in Ireland, under our Constitution it is not only the right but the duty of the parents to look after their child. If the parents are not allowed to reside legally in Ireland it is their duty to take their child with them whence they came. I...

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I repeat what I said. Is there such a remarkable difference between a 17 and a half year old and an 18 and a half year old who come to Ireland when they come to be considered at the age of 19 as to whether one should go home or one should remain? I do not think there is a difference. I do not see a logical reason for drawing a major distinction between the two categories. Every case where...

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: It was overwhelmed in that we had no——

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: It is not alarmist; it is true. I am just telling the truth.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: Ireland was overwhelmed by the size of the movement because——

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——Ireland was a net emigration country which did not have an elaborate system established to deal with a flow of this kind.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: That is now under control. We are now in a position to deal on a real-time basis with applications for asylum. I will not be cowed into using politically correct language or minimising language in regard to what was——

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——a very serious problem.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I reiterate the following point because the Deputies opposite who are making the most noise may not like to hear it. Each year the State is expending in the order of €370 million to deal with this problem so it is not an insignificant problem.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: To deal with the last point first, I do not know of any adjoining jurisdiction that allows asylum seekers who are sent there to live on the streets.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I do not believe that any EU member state would leave asylum seekers on the street.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: As far as I know, no member of the asylum appeals tribunal has had a record of never accepting an appeal.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am aware that some people who might be regarded as more generous have in respect of the accelerated categories of asylum seekers themselves had 100% rejection rates. These are appeals from a careful system where the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner has already turned them down. It is not as if this is a random group of asylum seekers coming from nowhere.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: It is not the case that because one lives in a country with an unstable government and a violent climate that one can come to Ireland to live here as of right. That is not the law and not what the 1951 convention means. If that were the law, half the world would have descended on Ireland. It is not the law and it is a great mistake for people——

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry to have to enlighten the Deputy.

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: To take a state such as Liberia, where there has been chronic instability and violence, it is not the case that anybody who comes to Ireland from Liberia——

Asylum Applications. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——can stay here because of an unstable, violent atmosphere in their home country.