Results 201-220 of 11,742 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: 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-----

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

Helen McEntee: Other countries do not have an option. The only country that differs from us is Denmark. When we negotiated the Lisbon treaty, we negotiated that we would have an opt-in. Denmark is not the same. It is in the Schengen area and is not choosing to opt out of any of the measures, but it never opted into any of the asylum procedures. Denmark has a separate and parallel process which it...

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 have spent eight years working through and considering them. It is not a case that this was agreed a few months ago and then we looked at them and asked whether we would join them.

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

Helen McEntee: I was a Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs a few years ago and this was debated for that entire period. I saw it go through the different stages and processes. The fact that we helped to develop this does not stop with the end of a Government. It does not change the fact that all the proposals benefit Ireland and that we engaged because they will be positive for...

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 timelines, no. As the Deputy can see I am investing in the system to make sure we have quicker turnaround times. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is actively engaged in resettlement. We have the Afghan refugee programme, the Syrian programme and we have had programmes prior to those. That will not change.

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

Helen McEntee: Absolutely, 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: In particular, I reference fingerprinting, which will now apply to children from the age of six and up. The main reason that has been applied is that in some instances smugglers and people who are trafficking or organisations use people to cross borders or apply for asylum. The idea is that by fingerprinting children from the age of six years, we would have a better picture of who they are....

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 the case of an unaccompanied minor arriving in Ireland, where he or she has come through another country and something is flagged through the screening process, it is not the case that they would be put in a detention centre or anything of the sort. The intention is that we would work with State agencies to make sure that unaccompanied minors in particular would be treated as vulnerable...

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

Helen McEntee: I will seek clarity on that. It has to be worked through. If we opt in, then it will form part of the legislation. We will be working with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on that.

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

Helen McEntee: When we talk about vulnerable people, that includes children. That is why unaccompanied minors are exempt from some of the systems as well.