International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Aidan Farrelly (SD), Kildare North

Notwithstanding the merits of this amendment, we should be clear first that we should not be legislating for the detention of children who have done nothing wrong. That should never be a part of legislation and certainly not legislation that has been described in this House today as rushed in nature. It has not been thought through. There will be amendments forthcoming on other Stages.
We have not thought this Bill through and with that in mind, legislating for the detention of children who have done nothing wrong simply does not seem right. If the Minister is to pursue that then we need to ensure we obtain what Deputy Kelly is providing for about what a clear definition of "last resort" is and by extension who gets to determine when that has been reached. It is incumbent on the Government to make sure that detail is provided in this legislation.

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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