Is the Minister of State taking this question?

I am.

I thank the Minister of State. After the two recent referendums, we know we cannot trust the Government to be honest about the legal advice it is receiving. To quell the concerns of the Opposition and the public, will the Government publish the Attorney General's advice on the EU migration pact? It is a comprehensive document that runs to over 1,300 pages. It contains various categories of regulations that need to be followed in respect of future migration, the Eurodac regulation and changes that will made to it. We in Ireland currently have access to that Eurodac system but we are told we will not be able to access it if we do not opt in.

The screening regulation is another document with approximately 200 pages. There are also the asylum procedure regulation, the asylum and migration management regulation and the crisis and force majeure regulation, which is a solidarity fund put in place to deal with crises in member states. As this is the second time I have submitted this question, I look forward to hearing the response from the Minister of State.

I thank Senator Keogan for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. As the Senator will be aware, the Attorney General provides legal advice to the Government and this advice is subject to legal professional privilege in the same way as the legal advice provided to a private client by any solicitor or barrister. The proper operation of Government and, thereby, the public interest is served by this privilege as it facilitates the confidential consideration by Government of sensitive matters. I assure the Senator that the Minister is fully committed to ensuring that Ireland’s international protection system is robust and rules based, and that our borders are protected.

The new EU asylum and migration pact is a game-changer for Ireland. It was agreed last December and recently approved by the European Parliament. The pact was carefully negotiated over several years since 2016 to significantly reform the current approach to migration and asylum both in Ireland and across the entire EU. It will do so by providing a strong and cohesive legislative framework to address the challenges we all face in this area.

The pact will speed up the processing of international protection applicants in order that we have a firmer and fairer system. It will do this through the provision of mandatory processing times. It will make it easier to return those who are found not to be entitled to protection and will introduce greater security checking of applicants, including screening of applicants at EU borders.

The pact will reduce the volume of secondary movement and will make it easier to transfer applicants to the member state responsible. This is particularly important for Ireland because of the volume of international protection applicants who have already applied for protection somewhere else in the EU. It will reduce the time people spend in State-provided accommodation and will support the return of people found not to be entitled to protection.

Any delay in opting in would see Ireland continue to operate under our existing systems, while other member states begin to implement the new law. This will likely result in Ireland becoming a more attractive destination for individuals seeking protection, as Ireland would be operating less extensive measures and would not be able to return people to other EU member states. Indeed, if we do not opt in, existing measures in which we participate, such as the Dublin III regulation, would become defunct and we would have no legal tool to return people to other EU member states. The pact offers us all in Europe a real opportunity to work together to design a system that is firm but fair, based on a fair sharing of responsibility that works for everyone.

It is for this reason that Ireland has participated in the Common European Asylum System since the beginning. We are already part of the Common European Asylum System, and the pact is a reform of that system. As measures governed by Protocol 21 of the EU treaty, the request by Ireland to opt in requires the prior approval of both Houses under Article 29.4.7° of the Constitution. Following the Dáil and Seanad approving Ireland's request to opt in to the EU migration pact, the Minister will start to prepare the general scheme of new legislation to replace the International Protection Act 2015. This Bill will be subject to full pre-legislative scrutiny in the usual way. It will then be drafted as usual and fully debated in the Dáil and Seanad. A core part of the role of Minister for Justice is to uphold the Constitution and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will always do so.

I thank the Minister of State. To be quite honest, I am very disappointed. While the Minister of State said that legal advice is provided to a private client, the citizens of Ireland are his clients. The citizens of Ireland need to know what the Attorney General's advice is. The Minister of State is the servant of the people of Ireland. They are the most important people when it comes to the Attorney General's advice. The Government let the people of Ireland down on the referendum on 8 March. It did not publish the advice and we subsequently found out that it misled the public. Here we are again, with another refusal to publish the Attorney General's advice in relation to this EU migration pact.

The tone of the debate will remain respectful. I am talking about illegal immigration and migration into this country. We all know the benefit when people come to this country on work permits and the contributions they make. Do not muddy the waters with that last line.

I thank Senator Keogan. I appreciate the points she raised. On behalf of the Minister, I assure her that the Irish Constitution requires that the pact will come before both TDs and Senators, and that is exactly what is going to happen. There will be full debates in the Dáil and Seanad and it will also be discussed at the joint committee. As with all new legislation, the Bill will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny and the full legislative process in both the Dáil and the Seanad will take place as usual. The EU asylum and migration pact will ensure, as I said, that Europe acts as a collective in terms of how migration, asylum in particular, is managed to ensure the system is firmer and fairer. I look forward to further debate in this regard.