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

I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to discuss this issue today. I agree with the previous speaker, Senator Dooley, that we should not shy away from it. We should regularly engage and talk about the facts, what we are doing and what we need to do collectively, not just in the Department of Justice or integration services but also across all of society, to ensure we have an immigration system that functions. It would also allow us to talk about the challenges that exist. There is a challenge; there is no point in saying otherwise. The Taoiseach said at his last meeting at the European Council that, irrespective of the type of government, leader or country, or of a country's geography, migration is one of the biggest challenges we all face. It is simply because there are millions of people on the move globally, more than we have seen since the Second World War.People are on the move for so many different reasons: fleeing war, persecution or their country because it is not a safe space. It is also because of climate change and its implications for where they live, their ability to work and to protect their families and live the lives we all want to live. We always have to be mindful of the fact the world is a challenging place at the moment, there are millions of people on the move and we have to be able to respond and to do so in a way that is honest and truthful. I appreciate those who call out mistruths and seek to rectify some of the disinformation put out there. Much of it is on social media, unfortunately, by those who are faceless and nameless and not even from this country and others, unfortunately, who are closer to home as well. There have been a lot of efforts to cause division in our society recently but it is always important for us to highlight the fact Ireland continues to welcome people who come here to seek work, a better life, but also to seek protection.

In recent weeks, my Department has welcomed 10,000 new Irish citizens at ceremonies held in Dublin and Kerry and it really is a marvellous day to see so many people from all over the world celebrate the privilege that it is to become an Irish citizen. As we know, inward migration is hugely beneficial to our economy, country and culture. One of the things I spoke about at the last ceremonies was the fact that the harp, which is the symbol of Ireland on our passport and all of our documents, came first from ancient Egypt and civilisations 5,000 years ago. Even our own traditions and cultures come from others. It is really important that we acknowledge and recognise that.

Migrants bring diverse skills, expertise and complement our workforce and society and we are doing what we can to facilitate as many legal pathways as those who need to come here to fill the critical roles and shortages we have. We have full employment and cannot fill the jobs we have vacant at the moment so that work will continue. We acknowledge Ireland is under pressure when it comes to our international protection system. Nobody shies away from that fact. As I mentioned, we are not alone in this regard. Many of our European counterparts have experienced significant increases in the number of people seeking international protection in recent years and there is little indication that will abate or slow down; in fact, it will most likely continue to increase. This shared European challenge requires a shared European solution and the solution has been put forward and that is the EU migration pact. As Senator Dooley stated, it is not a panacea and it will not resolve all of our issues but it is work that has taken place for the past number of years to identify how we can best collectively work together to put structures in place to ensure people who genuinely need protection get it, and quickly, and that those who do not are returned to their countries.

Separate to that, we continue to work to put in place whatever supports or resources, financial or otherwise, in the countries these people are coming from, deal with the root causes of migration, support their economies and address many of the challenges. That is a much bigger issue to try to deal with but it is happening in parallel with the adoption and introduction of the EU migration pact. Preparations for the implementation of the pact have begun across government. A new Bill to repeal the International Protection Act 2015 will be drafted. That will be done in parallel with the complete re-engineering of our entire system from start to finish. It will be underpinned with human rights at the very centre of anything we do so anybody who suggests that this is about fortress Europe, keeping people out and stopping people from having rights should know that human rights are at the very centre of everything that has been done related to the pact. It will ensure we have greater processing and why that is important is, as I always try to explain, the quicker we can process an application, people can get a quicker positive decision if that is what they are entitled to, but if they are not genuinely not entitled to it and should be coming through another route and there is no reason they should be here seeking protection, they should get that decision much more quickly. It means the less time the person is here, the less rights he or she accrues and it is easier to remove a person. While that might sound harsh, it is really important we have these rules, that they are adhered to and that we have as many legal pathways for people to come from countries where they genuinely should not be seeking international protection.

There will be a greater focus on returning unsuccessful applicants and doing so in a way we can support them to return. Nobody wants a deportation order against them that follows him or her for the rest of his or her life. However, if we can make it clear to the person at the earliest stage possible he or she can return home and we have an opportunity to create greater pathways for them we can do that as well.

There will be an expansion of the Eurodac database to make sure we have a greater understanding of who is coming into the country. If we have somebody who is a risk - again I stress that this suggestion that every man who is coming in is coming for reasons other than to have a better life and come ahead of his family and create a life for them we have to push back on that - we have to acknowledge that some people come and they have a background, the same as anybody in this country, and we want to be sure and certain we have as much information about those who are coming into the country as well. This does not mean we are waiting for the pact to take effect before we start to implement a lot of the changes. I will continue to take all necessary steps to manage the process efficiently and effectively while ensuring the integrity of these processes is maintained at all times. Maintaining the integrity of the system is about ensuring we have one that genuinely works for those who need our protection and for those who do not that they are enabled to return to their countries as quickly as possible.

Global migration is complex and many understandably seek to enter Ireland to improve their lives but we have to set down rules. My goal is to ensure applications are processed quickly. It means those who do not qualify are returned and those who qualify get that quickly. I am ramping up investment at every level of the system. The International Protection Office has significantly extended its processing capacity. I have doubled the number of staff there and doubled its budget as well, and have invested in the process of reform and digitalisation, which will allow us to do things even more quickly. This investment has led to the number of decisions issued increasing threefold and are set to increase further this year. We are setting ourselves higher targets for next year. I introduced an accelerated decision-making process in November 2022. This applies to those coming from safe countries where they are receiving their first instance decision in less than 90 days, which is a significant reduction on recent years. We are investing also in the International Protection Appeals Tribunal to make sure the second stage and those appeals can be processed as quickly as possible. Those times are starting to gradually come down as well.

The addition last week of Brazil, Egypt, India, Malawi and Morocco to the safe country list has brought the total number of safe countries to 15. While people form safe countries are still entitled to apply for international protection and have their application considered thoroughly, they have to submit grounds that the country is not safe in terms of their own personal circumstances. They have to prove why they should be granted international protection. These measures are proving effective. The number of applications from safe countries has reduced by more than 50%. The number of applications from Algeria and Botswana, in particular, have reduced by 71%. I have also extended this to the country where the highest number of applicants is coming from at the moment, that is, Nigeria. That may change and we have to make sure our systems are flexible. Since that was introduced the number of applications from Nigeria have almost halved since it was added to the accelerated process. I will keep this under review and make sure that as potential migratory flows or challenges change that we are responsive and able to adapt in appropriate timeframes.

I have increased the penalties for carriers who are not conducting appropriate checks and that legislation will be enacted by next week and is concluding in the Seanad through the miscellaneous Bill. The board of management unit of the Department, working with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, are also carrying out doorstep operations at the foots of planes and any of us who have been travelling or on flights in recent times will have seen that. More than 3,700 doorstep operations have taken place this year. I have introduced visa controls on a number of additional countries, most recently South Africa and Botswana, looking at countries that should be safe but where we are unfortunately see an increase in people coming from those countries and seeking international protection. We have to make sure we have clear rules in place and that they are not abused in any way.

Deportation orders are up by 76% this year compared to this time last year. Enforced deportations are up 132% but, importantly, voluntary returns are up 145%. It is much easier, more efficient, cost-effective and time-effective but it is also better for the individuals themselves if they are allowed to return voluntarily and if they are given that support to return as opposed to having a deportation order against them, which follows them not just if they try to come back here but any part of the EU and beyond.

A procurement process to provide a charter flight service to support the removal process is well advanced. This is just one element. This will not be a panacea either. This is just making sure we have all of the tools available to us to make sure that if a person does not have a right to be here, we are able to return him or her to their country. We are freeing up gardaí who are working on immigration registration duties so they can be on the front line working on immigration enforcement activities and that work is continuing. We have a number of counties, starting with Kildare, Wexford, Meath, Cork and Limerick where those duties have been handed over and that further work will progress before the end of the year. Of course, it is difficult to talk about this issue without focusing on our colleagues in the UK. The common travel area, CTA, is a really important mechanism for us to be able to live, work, study and continue that close relationship we have with our colleagues in the UK. We need to ensure that benefit we have between the two islands is not in any way abused so there is really close co-operation between my Department, the UK Home Office, An Garda Síochána and the PSNI to make sure we protect the common travel area from abuses that may be ongoing.As we have seen in recent times, there is a higher number of people now flowing both ways between Ireland and the UK. We therefore have to be able to speak to each other and understand why those flows have changed, what are the issues we are trying to address and how we can address them together. I hope to meet my new counterparts, following the recent election, in the coming weeks so that we can build a relationship and make sure it is as strong as possible.

My role is to make sure we have an immigration system that functions, works, is efficient and effective and that we have the resources in place to deal with what is now a significant challenge, not only for us but for many countries across the EU. That work is well under way. Funding has been invested and people are being invested. At the heart of it, the overall objective, as we will all agree, is to make sure that people who genuinely need our protection get it as quickly as possible and that we give it to them in a way that allows them to get on with their lives and be active and contributing members of society and that for those who do not have a right to be here we are firm, make it clear to them and assist them to leave or ensure they remove themselves from the country. Who knows? Perhaps they will be able to return through legal pathways at another time if they wish.

I thank colleagues for putting this on the agenda. As I said, I am happy to come back to the House, as are all my colleagues, to make sure we continue to focus on this and that we speak the truth about what is a difficult topic for many people.