International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Louis O'Hara (SF), Galway East The Minister earlier said that this debate is sovereignty in action. It is, but what he is doing in this instance is signing that away. We are not going to have the same capacity to make these decisions because of the EU pact. He is handing away decision-making power. The Government has also signed us up to potential infringement proceedings from the European Union when we inevitably cannot live up to the pact that we have signed up to. That is a bizarre and irresponsible approach to take. We are talking about huge amounts of money that could be lost through infringement proceedings and I would argue that also undermines our sovereignty. We do not need this pact to sort out the issues we have. We do not need it to sort out the delays in processing applications, the delays in the appeals system or the issues with decisions not being enforced. We definitely do not need it to end the profiteering that is the hallmark of the system and which the Government has failed to clamp down on. The system has been in crisis for a very long time, but that is down to Government failures. It is the Government alone that has the wherewithal and power to address it. That should be the approach that is being taken. The average processing time is over two and a half years when we include applications and appeals. The EU migration pact is not going to help us to sort that; only Government action will. Some parts of the pact make sense but we have opposed opting in wholesale because, as I have said, it undermines our sovereignty and transfers powers to the European Union. It should be the Irish Government and the Irish people who are deciding policy on migration, particularly given our unique circumstances as part of a common travel area with a state outside the European Union. These amendments are sensible and will help to protect our sovereignty and deal with the impact of the common travel area. As my colleagues have said, this clearly demonstrates the difficulties with having two states on this small island. It does not make sense in any way and should underline why the Government should be active persuaders when it comes to Irish unity. It should begin planning and preparing for unity because time and again, issues arise where the Border on this island proves to be a major stumbling block. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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