Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 91, to delete lines 21 to 23.

The phrase "the person arrived in the State from a safe third country that is, in accordance with subsection (17), a safe country for the person." is used in the Bill. I will not speak at length to this because I wish to address the issue later when we discuss the issue of a safe third country. The European directives give guidance on that, but they also give a lot of scope for countries to set their own mechanisms. Because time is limited, I will instead focus on amendments Nos. 9 to 11, inclusive, in my name, which address the question of how we define what a safe third country is. I believe Ireland may need to add some supplementary circumstances or supplementary considerations to the determination of a safe third country.

I would simply note, in regard to the line “a safe country for the person”, that this is something we have seen again and again. We have seen this described as a huge issue for persons who are seeking asylum or any other forms of international protection here in Ireland. A country that is predominantly safe may not be safe for a particular person. For example, we know there are countries that have been described broadly as safe countries which are not safe countries for an LGBT person, for a member of a particular minority or, in some cases, in regard to the familial violence particular people may face. There is sometimes a wider concern which we will not have time to dwell on today. I hope we get a chance to do that, and it would certainly help if the Minister would commit to reviewing the international protection legislation properly at some point in the next few months. We need to have consideration of how we approach that issue because very unfortunate decisions have been made in terms of persons being sent to a safe third country which proved not to be safe for them.