Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Briefly, I am opposed to this amendment. I do not think our provision is over the top. The Bill casts a legal duty upon asylum applicants to comply with the law. It is not a moral duty. I am not legislating for morality but for a crisp, firm, legal duty. This is not a desideratum, to use a Latin phrase, but a sine qua non. As far as the policy of the Act is concerned, there is a clear unequivocal legal duty. In some cases a failure to comply with it is punishable. Once the process is invoked an asylum applicant must see it through.

Amendment to amendment, by leave, withdrawn.