Seanad debates

Thursday, 3 July 2003

Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages.

 

The Bill approved by the Senators contains important measures designed to give the State more effective immigration control processes and, in the area of asylum law, amendments designed to make the process of establishing who is and who is not a refugee more efficient. Before the Bill had left this House, I had given clear indications of my intention to ask the other House to include further amendments motivated by these two concerns. There has been criticism that I should allow one Bill to go ahead and start off again with another Bill. This is a fluid situation. There are developments internationally and in Europe. There are developments on asylum law on an international basis. It is not practical for me to bring in a succession of Bills. To some extent I am dealing with a moving target. I do not use that phrase dismissively. The situation is not static. Since my officials initiated the 2002 Bill, before the last election, many new things have developed, including draft legislative proposals being placed before the European Union Justice and Home Affairs Council. We, therefore, have to anticipate these developments. I say this because we enjoy a common travel area with the United Kingdom. As a consequence, if we fall behind or diverge from the international norms, or exclude ourselves from access to important legislative tools, we will become the place of last resort, because our laws will be the most inadequate.

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