Results 41-60 of 1,018,167 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:John O'Mahony OR speaker:Martin Ferris) in 'Committee meetings'

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Violet-Anne Wynne: I welcome the debate in the House on this particular issue, especially considering there has been a major reluctance on the part of the Government to debate such matters. Instead, it has exuded fear, which is hugely disappointing. Political debates should not be avoided, especially on contentious issues. Nothing positive comes form that. In the short time available to me, I will point...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. With regard to a point made by the previous speaker, my understanding is that this is the third, if not fourth, debate on migration, specifically immigration and the pact, I have attended in the House in as many months. We had a three-hour debate in the committee last week and it is open to any Deputy at any time to raise the matter as a Topical...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Seán Canney: I welcome the opportunity to speak on what is a very emotive subject whether people are directly affected by it or not. One of the issues that has manifested in recent days is the total confusion in the Government about numbers and percentages. This is leading to more fodder and ammunition for those termed right-wing groups that are trying to put the fear of God into people. It is high...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Thomas Pringle: I express my solidarity with the Minister and her family. It is an appalling situation and should not continue anywhere. Although I am against the introduction of the European migration and asylum pact, it is not for the reasons the Rural Independent Group outlined in the motion, so I will not support that motion. The Government will probably bring forward an amendment, which I will be...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Marian Harkin: I thank the Minister for her attendance. It is not often that we have a senior Minister at this point of a Private Members' debate. I am glad to see her here. I also give her my personal support in light of the completely unacceptable attacks on her family home. This morning we are discussing the issue of migration. It is a difficult and delicate discussion. On the one hand, we have...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Mick Barry: I will make some comments about the EU migration and asylum pact. This pact strengthens fortress Europe, and what has fortress Europe done? More than 3,000 human beings lost their lives in the Mediterranean last year. Between the years 1993 and 2023 there were more than 50,000 documented refugee deaths as a direct result of fortress Europe, which the Government and its allies in Europe now...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Michael Lowry: People's confidence in the Government's handling of migration was low before they learned that newly-arrived asylum seekers to Ireland were escaping deportation from the UK to Rwanda. It was a shocking and worrying revelation that raises serious questions. People immediately wanted to know how suddenly this detailed information had become available. How do we determine the number of...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Bríd Smith: Solidarity to the Minister for the threats and the disturbance she and her family have suffered this week. I also express my solidarity to Deputy Paul Murphy, who also this week received death threats from the same sources. I have read over the motion from the Rural Independent Group. It consists of nearly three pages about the migration pact and there is not a single mention of the...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: On behalf of the Labour Party, we want to show solidarity with the Minister of Justice and with her family, after the difficulties she went through last week, and indeed, with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. This is the inevitable consequence of people in political life and people with influence not tempering their language and making their case or arguments in a more restrained manner. Over...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Michael Ring: I thank the Deputy. Deputy Catherine Murphy is next.

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: On a brief point of order that is not a response to any comment, the Minister was not present when I spoke and I also want to be associated with the expression of solidarity and to express my regret about what happened to her family, which was terrible.

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Michael Ring: We all agree with the Deputy but that is not a point of order.

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I too express solidarity with the Minister and her family. There has been discussion in this House over the past few years about the coarsening of debate. We are seeing that going to another level now where we are seeing things falling into the criminal code. There is a real need for leadership right across the House on that. We need a well-managed asylum system, irrespective of the...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Paul Donnelly: Irish people are good, decent and caring people. There are thousands of examples of where we have welcomed people seeking asylum into our country. That needs to be acknowledged. I broadly welcome the movement today of migrants who have been living in tents along Mount Street. The situation is not tenable due to the appalling conditions for the migrants and the serious disruptions to the...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Sinn Féin believes that Ireland can better create a fair, efficient and enforced immigration system by exercising its rights to opt out of a majority of the EU pact's proposals. Sinn Féin opposed the migration and asylum pact for very good reasons. First, it undermines human rights. At the justice committee yesterday, several human rights organisations outlined a number of...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Michael Ring: Much as I agree with the Deputy, I must call Deputy Martin Browne.

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Martin Browne: I would have been happy to allow Deputy Conway-Walsh speak for another minute if she wanted. As has been said, the Government is taking the wrong path here. The majority of measures in the EU's migration and asylum pact are not in Ireland's interests. Through its determination to bind itself to every element of this pact, the Government believes it can distance itself from its own...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

John Brady: The core of the issue we are discussing is the Government’s shambolic approach to the asylum issue from the outset. The Government is now attempting to present the EU migration pact as a catch-all solution to the current crisis, the root of which lies in the Government’s failure to develop a coherent plan. Ultimately, it is operating a reactionary approach to events as they...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: We believe the Government is taking the wrong approach on this migration compact. We believe Ireland is in a unique position. It has a unique opportunity. Ourselves and Denmark are the only countries that have the flexibility to opt out. We have that flexibility going back to recognition of the fact that Ireland is in a common travel area with Britain. There are a number of reasons the...

European Union Migration and Asylum Pact: Motion [Private Members] (1 May 2024)

Richard O'Donoghue: People in this country are scared. They are scared about what the Government has done and about the lack of information available to them. This pact signs Ireland up to have almost 30,000 migrants coming into this country and if we do not accept these migrants, there is a clause that says it will cost €20,000 for each persons we do not accept. If we do not accept 30,000 migrants,...