Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I am extremely disappointed with the answers I have received. I made a considerable number of points on the record which I asked be made known to the departmental officials and the Attorney General. I do not concur with the Minister of State's responses but I accept his undertaking to have my points explored. I thank the departmental officials for their engagement to date.

On amendment No. 49, this is a minimal proposal in that it seeks only to raise the threshold to include a second officer-garda. I would have preferred to have this section deleted but as I did not expect that would be acceptable, I proposed a compromise amendment. Will the Minister of State reconsider my proposal in this regard?

I appreciate that my Sinn Féin colleague, Senator Ó Clochartaigh, has decided to quote me. I have no difficulty with anything he said but I was talking about the system of direct provision. We are clearly dealing now with the International Protection Bill. This is the second time we have sought to deal with people who are seeking asylum. Senator Norris and I put forward the Bill on amnesty for those who are long-term in the system. That Bill would have progressed to Committee Stage had Sinn Féin not chosen to block it. Committee Stage would have provided an opportunity for amendment of that Bill. I will not be lectured by Senator Ó Clochartaigh about people in direct provision. I, too, meet them. I want to improve the situation but today we are dealing with the International Protection Bill. I want new applicants to have a single procedure. No Bill I have dealt with here has been a perfect Bill. If we wait for the perfect Bill, nothing will happen: it is not coming.

Despite all the work I did with the Children's Rights Alliance on the International Residency Protection Bill, it fell. I am not saying the Bill before us is perfect. I will constructively argue points in relation to it. Every time we raise that baseline, we have the starting point for our next engagement but Sinn Féin, in the context of its actions, appears to want to keep it on the ground. Sinn Féin will not allow us to debate this Bill, which is what I am here to do today.