Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With the returns mechanism, we need to make sure that if a person already has asylum in another member state, that member state takes responsibility and we can adequately return the person, which we cannot do at the moment. Dublin III does not work. We know it does not work. We need to improve the system. If we do not opt into this, Dublin III will not exist and we will have no mechanism to return people to the country where they already have asylum.

On new procedures, I am consistently hearing from people that we need to invest in update our systems and that we need quicker processing and turnaround times and a quicker ability to make sure that if a person has a right to stay, they get that quickly and, if they do not, that they are removed quickly. That is exactly what the procedure regulations are doing. There is different processing.

The border regulation is for those who pose a risk coming from countries where we know they should not be seeking asylum. There is the accelerated procedure, which I have already introduced and which has seen a 50% decrease in the number of people coming from those countries. There is the inadmissibility procedure. Again, we already have this here. There is also the general procedure that applies to everybody else who does not fit into these categories. This means we will improve the overall processing, invest in the system and speed up the timeframes. Everybody has asked for it so I do not see why we would not support it. We will have the funding coming directly from Europe to be able to invest in it.

On the solidarity mechanism, why would we not work with our counterparts and colleagues across Europe? This is a global challenge. We cannot face this on our own. For those dealing with this crisis and dealing with significant numbers, it is important we work with our colleagues, as we do in every matter across Europe, to show that solidarity. It is not that we are being penalised if we do not take what is a relatively low number of people - fewer than 700 in any given year. We will decide ourselves how we want to contribute. If we do not have the accommodation, the space or ability to take people, we can contribute financially. The contribution we would make per person is actually less than what it would cost to house and support somebody here in Ireland. Again I ask, if we find ourselves in that situation, where do we turn to? How do we ask our colleagues in Europe to support and help us when we have turned our back and not opted into these measures?

We have the Eurodac regulation, again making sure we have a full understanding of people who are coming into this country and that we have fingerprints. In respect of children, this is very much a measure to make sure we can deal with the issue of trafficking because it is very much a problem. Why would we not want to have information on those who are coming into our country and the ability to share that with other member states?

In making sure there is criteria for international protection and that we are all the same so that there is not any one country with different criteria, again I do not see what would be negative about this. In making sure there is a minimum standard for reception conditions and making sure that when we develop this as part of the legislation, which will be worked through with everybody in this House and in the Dáil on Committee Stage and the measures we use for every piece of legislation, why would we not want to put in place minimum standards for people who seek our protection? In looking at our partnership with non-EU countries, again there is a very clear specific measure in this regard about how we engage with non-EU countries and work with them to make sure we can protect those who need our protection. To me, it is a no-brainer. There is nothing in this pact that will not benefit Ireland. It is a plan we have worked on to deal with what is an extremely challenging situation and environment. I have yet to hear any Senator, or indeed Deputy last night, who does not support this put forward any other solution. There is no solution.