International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West

I would like to hear some examples of what the best interests might be because I struggle to see an example of when it would be in the best interests of a child to be detained. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has said that children should never be detained because of their or their parents' migration status. We all know it is not a good idea to put children in prison or detention.
There is a presumption of adulthood in the Bill, whereby a Garda, an official or whoever would be able to guess a person's age and presume that they are an adult. We do not have a great track record with regard to differentiating the ages of people of different races, nationalities and so on. The Bill states that reasonable grounds must be shown, but what are reasonable grounds? It is a broad term. Under this provision, 16-year-olds could very easily be detained because somebody assumes they are an adult due to the fact they do not know or do not have proof of their age.
As everybody has said, it is a slippery slope. I am sure the Minister is aware that all of the children's rights agencies have asked for this to be explicitly ruled out of the Bill, but he is leaving it in. He has told us he will come back with further measures down the line. As others have said, when accommodation, proper care facilities or whatever cannot be found, children will end up in Garda stations or other detention centres that the State might develop in the years ahead. We have seen with Irish citizens, never mind people coming in from other countries, that people have to go to Garda stations because otherwise they would be on the streets. I would like some examples of when it might be in someone's best interests to be detained in this way.

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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