International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 2 and 3. I will go into that in detail but it is important to make a point at the very start. If a party is anti-EU, and Sinn Féin is, in my opinion, with platitudes to the left and the right of what it may or may not want to say about it, its members would be far more honest to come in here and say that. On every occasion when I listen to its members speak - they come in and their line writers have given them whatever cliché to say for the day - it is always anti-EU. That is really the importance of what the last contributor said about that sovereignty argument and how not working with our EU partners can really damage us in this area. That needed to be said. The Bill does not and could not in any meaningfully way do what Article 5 of the Constitution states, which is that "Ireland is a sovereign, independent, democratic state". Article 6 is clear as to where the sovereignty power of the State resides, namely, with the people. At the same time, the Constitution also provides for Ireland to be a member state of the European Union and to participate in addressing shared challenges with co-ordinated solutions. That is the important thing. What Europe is all about, in case the Sinn Féin Deputies have missed it, is shared challenges. This co-operation with our fellow member states was clearly approved by the people when they voted in referendums for the inclusion of references to the various European treaties in Article 29 of the Constitution. Certain things can be done on a common European basis, and should be. As I said on Second Stage, and as the Minister has said, migration and asylum have given rise to challenges not only for Ireland but across the European Union. They are shared challenges which are increasingly difficult for any one country to deal with acting alone in a global and independent world. We have seen very close to home how difficult it can be when a country decides to think it can deal with this on its own. That is why the shared solution is the best way forward. Ireland's participation in international agreements and EU measures in the area of international production is not new. Ireland ratified the 1951 convention relating to the status of refugees in 1956 and acceded to the 1967 protocol in 1968. The Dublin Convention was agreed in 1990. Ireland participated in the first phase of the common European asylum system, opting into several EU measures in the first years of this century, some of which were the forerunners of the measures in the migration and asylum pact which are being given further effect by this Bill. Article 29.4.7° of the Constitution provides that the State may exercise the options or discretions under Protocol 21, but any such exercise should be subject to the prior approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas. The decision to opt in and be bound by the migration and asylum pact measures was approved by this House and the Seanad - the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, has said this to Deputy Carthy many times - on the basis of the proposal of the Government pursuant to Protocol 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This amendment also attempts to reframe the aspects of the separation of powers already defined in the Constitution. With respect to the House, it is well established that the executive authority of the State to determine policy in respect of migration is vested under the Constitution in the Executive branch. The Oireachtas is entitled to exercise its constitutional function to legislate. However, to allocate policy function solely to the Oireachtas might, for example, limit the Minister's authority to determine the policy relating to the granting of visas or other immigration permissions in the State. For the above reasons, I cannot accept amendments Nos. 2 and 3. I also do not propose to accept amendment No. 4. Ireland and the United Kingdom share a very long history and a common interest in effective co-operation on the common travel area. Maintaining the integrity of the common travel area and preventing its abuse in the context of immigration is an issue on which I, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and our officials have had many engagements with our UK counterparts. My Department is taking all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times. There is extensive engagement and co-operation at all levels between my Department and the United Kingdom Home Office. This includes joint operational co-operation, as well as information sharing between the Garda, the UK Border Force, the UK policing service and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. This strong and practical engagement and co-operation serves the mutual interests of Ireland and the United Kingdom and that will continue. The protection of an open Border on the island of Ireland was and remains a key priority to the communities on both sides of the Border. I do not believe it would be necessary or, indeed, appropriate to place requirements for consideration of the impacts of the common travel area on a statutory footing. --- 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