Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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112. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will revise the general scheme of the International Protection Bill 2025 to strengthen the independent human rights monitoring mechanism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68503/25]

Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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144. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will revise the general scheme of the International Protection Bill 2025 to ensure that there is no possibility of detention of vulnerable people; if he will set out explicitly in the Bill alternatives to detention to ensure that detention indeed represents a last resort, as required by the EU pact; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68502/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 144 together.

The General Scheme of a new International Protection Bill to give effect to measures of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact was approved by Government on 29 April 2025. The Report of the Joint Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme was published on 1 December.

I intend to seek Government approval in the coming weeks for publication of the Bill. It is expected that the Bill will be published by the end of the year.

The International Protection Bill will provide for the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism as provided for in the Screening Regulation and Asylum Procedures Regulation. The Bill will provide for the mechanism’s functions to be conferred on an individual Chief Inspector of Asylum Border Procedures. The Bill will make clear provision for the functions and powers of the Chief Inspector in line with the independent monitoring mechanism provided for in the Screening Regulation and Asylum Procedures Regulation.

Initial steps are being taken toward the establishment of the Chief Inspector post, and funding has been allocated in the 2026 Estimates to that end.

Provision will be made for detention of applicants for international protection in accordance with the 2024 Reception Conditions Directive and the other Pact measures, in the limited circumstances envisaged in those measures, and with the required safeguards.

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact has been designed to establish a common approach to migration and asylum that is based on solidarity, responsibility, and, importantly, respect for human rights.