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

The committee meeting this week makes a mockery of what the Minister is proposing. Civil legal aid is basically about to collapse. I accept some of the pressures are brought about by changes internationally over recent years. The Minister is patting himself on the back because of the increase he got from Government but it needs to be multiples of that. In the long run, it will save the State. It is also just the right thing to do. The fraction of money given to this is actually disgraceful.
I am really looking forward to the explanation for my amendment not being accepted. If it had been accepted, it probably would have helped the Minister. It is effectively, according to what he just said, what he will bring in anyway. I presume he will use the asylum procedures regulation, APR, definition. That is probably the safest thing to do, so why in the name of God can he not bring it in now or on Report Stage - or will he have add-ons? The idea that only paralegals will be doing this is not realistic; neither is it in the scope of what the APR says. I read out earlier what the APR says in relation to civil organisations. How will he cover that? Is he going to stick to what the APR says? If he is, there is no reason he cannot bring it in now. I had an amendment basically bringing it in. Will he in some way customise, change or tailor it to our society? Will that include citizens information and all that sort of stuff? Will he clarify that? The fact this is all being thrown on the Legal Aid Board otherwise will not work. The whole thing will collapse.
The Minister can smile all he wants but this will collapse. There is not a hope in hell of it working. If all that is the case, the fact the Department has not dealt with this until now is symbolic of the much more worrying issue of how in the name of God this legislation will ever be legally sound and resourced.

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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