International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Alan Kelly (LAB), Tipperary North

If my colleague calls a vote on section 1, we will definitely support it. I think I am the longest serving Member in the Chamber at the moment, and it is on that basis that I say this is not the way to do legislation. That is no criticism of the officials who are here, who get directions on the basis of the timelines given to them by the Ministers. This is crazy stuff, as everyone has said. That we are going to debate this for eight hours non-stop is not good for legislation. We will be doing the same next week by all accounts, if not longer. There will probably be guillotines used, which obviously we will oppose.
This is such important legislation. This should be put through the wringer of normal committee processing so we can go into it in detail. Trying to go through everything that has been ruled out of order and everything that has been grouped together is like trying to do a mathematical equation. Some of the groupings do not make much sense. I do not blame those who were putting these lists together in the Bills Office because they were trying their best at the last minute, frankly.
This is becoming a bit of a habit from the Minister's Department in relation to lots of different things. I do not know what is going on as regards competency, or whether it is direction from the Minister or what the hell is going on, but this is no way to do legislation. To be frank, it is no way for a Department to be run or for officials to be directed. It is not the first time I have had to say this. As legislators, we need to do things properly. Otherwise, mistakes will be made. I have said that before and I will say it again.
I am firmly of the view that we will be reviewing this legislation when lots of things are tested in the courts and other places in relation to its actual capacity to be implemented. There are two issues. First, can it functionally be implemented and done in the timelines required? Will the resources be there? Second, is it legally sound? Being honest, I have serious concerns about the capacity for both.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18