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

With regard to amendment No. 20, I am fully supportive of amendment No. 10. We will take another run at it in a definition in terms of Article 14.1 of the Eurodac regulation. My concern equally with this legislation, and it speaks again to the somewhat rushed nature of it, is that it could even be at odds with domestic legislation with regard to Children First and young children and young people's rights and welfare and protections in the State because it does not underpin this legislation. It does not go far enough at all to very clearly highlight the importance of what we must remember are a very vulnerable cohort of people in this society. They are people who have experienced trauma and a whole diversity of issues, and what they need are services. This legislation, as Deputy Kelly said, could be seen from a child's point of view as an opportunity to underpin what is not an optional extra. A child's access to basic human rights and services is not an optional extra. This legislation is not underpinned by a child's best interests, not just with regard to the detention - we have covered that, and I am sure we will cover it again - but also the way in which they interact with the services of this State as they experience the international protection system.
My amendment No. 14 was ruled out of order because of the money message. I am a new TD; I am learning. I will have it written in a different way for future pieces of legislation. However, I say that to show the Minister there is a series of ways in which he and his officials could draft what this will look like as a definition. It is essential that the ways in which a child's welfare are of utmost importance are central to 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