Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party is a pro-European party and we believe in the European project. We recognise the need to take collective action on an issue, which is faced not only by us but all countries in the European Union. We agree with the Government position that we do not operate in isolation when it comes to the issue of migration.

While we may bluntly vote the same way as others later, we fundamentally disagree with those in Opposition who spout Eurosceptic talk about the unfounded threats to our sovereignty. A core principle of the European Union is pooled sovereignty, and we cannot expect others to co-operate with us if we do not co-operate with them.

However, in saying all that, we do have significant concerns about this pact. Our concerns with the migration and asylum pact primarily centre around the human rights concerns that we highlighted in the Dáil through our party leader, Deputy Ivana Bacik, and which were laid out in detail by organisations such as the Irish Refugee Council, the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, MASI. the UNHCR and the Migrants Rights Centre. I am confident that many more organisations would have presented their concerns to Government had it not chosen to rush this Bill through the Dáil in a three-hour sitting, now ramming though the Seanad in one vote for seven agreements. It is very regrettable that the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission had to highlight that it was unable to make a submission in the short timeframe provided by the Government.

Contrast this with the European Parliament, where the pact was taken as seven separate votes. What the Government is proposing in the motion today will be a single block of seven agreements taken in one single vote without any clarity on how the final legislation would be implemented in an Irish context. This is despite numerous calls across the Opposition benches to take each part of the pact separately.

Due to this decision, we in the Labour Party feel we have no choice but to vote against this motion, despite our support for some elements of this pact, particularly European Union-wide response to the issue of migration. Our concerns centre around a number of issues in particular: the border procedure, which requires processing to occur on or near the border; the potential for unnecessary detention of people seeking safety; the fiction of non-entry, where somebody physically in the country can be deemed to not have legally entered the country; and the possible stripping away of rights to legal advice.

We also have deep concerns about the fact that under the pact, Government would be required to prioritise applications of those most likely to be deported above those who are placed in the accelerated procedures channel, meaning that those most in need of asylum would be placed at the back of the queue. Furthermore, the asylum procedure regulation requires that persons arriving from countries with a refugee recognition rate of over 20% be dealt with using the border procedure. This creates a two-tier system based on nationality that could lead to individual cases being overlooked, particularly for marginal communities such as people from the LGBT+ community.Ireland's overall recognition rate is approximately 35%. The Irish Refugee Council makes a very good case that more than 20% indicates that a high rate of protection is needed, but the Government has yet to provide clarity on those issues.

Migration has come to dominate political discourse in Ireland in recent months and in Europe in recent years. The issue has been latched onto by people seeking to divide society and promote themselves at the expense of very vulnerable communities. We cannot ignore the fact that the Government has deliberately chosen to allow this resentment to grow in communities. It has failed to communicate its policies and it continues to spend millions accommodating those seeking safety in hotels and other private accommodation settings rather than rely on accommodation provided through rapid-build programmes, which we were talking about back in 2022 when the Ukraine war first broke out. The Government ignored the recommendations in the Day report that it should build six publicly owned accommodation centres. We welcome that the Government has now committed to building those centres, but the Minister cannot come in here and try to frame that decision as some sort of achievement. These centres should have been built two years ago when the Government originally received the recommendation.

In its continued shift to frame itself as being tough on migration prior to the recent elections and potentially in advance of a general election, we saw a weak Government propose legislation to provide for the removal of citizenship from people in certain circumstances. This is a power that had already been in existence since 1956. It is another example of the Government's willingness to attack the most vulnerable in our communities in an effort to appear tough and stop the electoral thrashing from the far right. The decision to remove supports from Ukrainian refugees is further evidence of that.

There is a quote at the start of the book Outlandersby the Irish writer Seán Ó Tuathaigh which highlights the stories of displaced people around the world. It is a quote from an Andalusian philosopher called Ibn Rushd: "Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to violence. This is the equation." We must remember that equation today as we debate this motion.