Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 41:

In page 22, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:“20. (1) An immigration officer or a member of the Garda Síochána shall not detain a person for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant for international protection.”.

The section deals with the power to detain and arrest without warrant. The purpose is to reinstate the power to detain, as stated in section 9 of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. The amendment would balance the State's right to regulate its borders and control immigration with the individual's right to liberty and to seek protection under the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It would also reinstate the power to detain, as stated in section 9 of the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. The power to arrest without warrant represents a significant and unnecessary expansion of the State's power to detain under the Refugee Act 1996, as amended. The power to arrest without warrant is only given to An Garda Síochána in a number of limited circumstances, including where a person is suspected of having committed an arrestable offence that carries a penalty of five years or more, or in a case of suspected drinking and driving under the Road Traffic Acts.

Section 21, as formulated in the Bill, will put certain immigration-related offences on a par with those with which many people in this sphere consider unacceptable. The aim of the proposed amendment is to prevent arbitrary detention and seek to protect the applicant's right to liberty under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

I reserve the right to speak on the other amendments included in the group after the Minister of State's response.