Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I assure the Senator that to my knowledge, there is no policy, either formal or informal, of discriminating against colleges based on their geographical location in relation to admission of students.

This Bill will not add to the difficulties in getting into Ireland. What will happen is that the carriers, who are in this sense the proprietors or the people in charge of the ship or aircraft, will have to check documentation. It should be understood in the House that no "fortress Ireland" policy has suddenly appeared in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Ireland is the last country in the EU not to have such provisions. This is not something we took out of the bottom drawer over at St. Stephen's Green to help us create fortress Ireland. Ireland is an anomaly in Europe in that every other member state has put in place carrier liability legislation of some kind.

Senator McDowell asked about primary liability. The simple answer is that there is no simple answer – it depends. If the owner of a ship allows a lorry on to the ship in which three or four refugees are concealed, it would be unreasonable to expect the staff of the ship to search the lorry in question. In that case the carrier will not be liable under this law if he or she had no reason to believe a passenger was being carried. If, on the other hand, somebody is plainly visible to the carrier, who fails in his or her duty to ensure that the person is documented, he or she should be liable under this law. This law imposes on them a duty to ensure they do not carry undocumented passengers. If a lorry driver unloading a container at Rosslare had an undocumented passenger in the front seat, it would suggest that the owners of the ferry failed to ensure he or she was documented. If the person being carried is hidden under bales in the back of the container there is no prima facie basis on which an immigration officer could seek to apply liability to that person. It all depends on the circumstances.

There are many cases where criminal liability is applied to a number of people at the same time. One of them might establish a defence that he or she has taken all reasonable steps but the owner of a car in whose boot there is a person concealed with his or her knowledge is liable. It is shared liability in theory but only one person will be liable in any given circumstance.