Seanad debates

Wednesday, 29 January 2003

Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed).

 

If one is appealing against the applications commission decision, one wants a hearing where the issues are straightforward and narrow, where one's lawyers understand them and are not under pressure to bring extraneous matters, such as the state of one's health, family circumstances and so on, before the tribunal, even though they might well inspire the Minister to exercise his or her humanitarian powers under the Act. If a statutory entitlement was to be established on the part of the tribunal member to make recommendations of this kind, the scope would be widened, de facto, of all tribunal proceedings to sweep in every factor which could be relevant to the humanitarian aspect. The tribunals would be lengthened and people asked to deal with questions twice when once would be quite sufficient.

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