International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South I thank Deputies Gannon and Kelly for the amendment. I will discuss all of the amendments grouped together. Amendment No. 10 tabled by Deputies Gannon and Kelly can be divided into two parts. The Deputies want to set out in the legislation that the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration in all matters affecting a person who is minor. I have no difficulty with this provision being put into the legislation but I need to inform Members that it is in the Bill already. Section 29(1) contains a provision dealing with a guarantee for minors. Section 29(1) states: "The best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration in the carrying out of procedures in respect of a minor under this Part." Colleagues may revert and state this is limited to that Part but I would look at it because I certainly want it to be the case that throughout the legislation the best interests of the child should be the primary consideration. In the next part of the proposed amendment from Deputies Gannon and Kelly they have decided they think it would be preferable to define what is the best interests of the child or how the best interests of the child should be determined, and they do so in six paragraphs setting out the views of the child, the age of the child, safety and developmental needs, preservation of family relationships, particular vulnerabilities and any other particular circumstances. There is a genuine debate to be had as to whether when we put a protection in legislation, it is benefited by seeking to provide a definition of that general protection. The term "the best interests of the child" is in Article 42A of our Constitution. The courts are required to ensure that decisions made are in the best interests of the child. I will consider it. I will table amendments in respect of this matter. I cannot accept the amendments as they are at present, particularly amendments Nos. 10, 17, 20 and 206. Section 15 clearly provides for the safeguards required by the Eurodac regulation on the collection of biometric data from children. I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 134 135, 154 and 192. Article 23 of the asylum and migration management regulation and Article 22 of the asylum procedures regulation set out that the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration for the state and the competent authorities of the state with respect to all procedures provided for in those regulations. This is a legally binding obligation on the state. As such, it may not be necessary to include these amendments in the Bill. I will give careful consideration to what is in these amendments and I may bring forward further amendments later to give effect to them. It is important, however, to note that the legislation already provides that the best interests of the child be the primary consideration. In respect of what Deputy Coppinger has raised, what makes immigration a really difficult thing to deal with, particularly if you are the person making the decisions - and everyone in here makes decisions when it comes to legislation - is that you are dealing with people's lives. Decisions that are made have consequential impacts on individuals. What I have tried to do - and feel free to criticise me, which I know the Deputy will - is that I have tried to get away from a situation whereby we have an arbitrary system. I have tried to have a rules-based system. Deputy Gibney criticised me and asked where the compassion is in this. If I go down the route of moving away from a rules-based system and decide I will deal with individual requests on an individual basis, we will have a system that is very unfair in the generality of how it is applied. It will become arbitrary and nobody will know what the outcome will be. Those who can get a well-connected campaign up and running will know they are in a better position or people may think if they can mention a case in the Dáil, they will have a better chance of receiving a positive result. I do not know the situation in terms of the individuals Deputy Coppinger referred to. I do not know whether they have been refused status. I am not asking the Deputy to deal with the details of it now; if she wants to she can mention them to me. I do not know whether they have been refused status and been served with a deportation order. Alternatively, I do not know whether they have been granted status. One thing the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, and I cannot do if people have been granted status is to get into the accommodation business of providing an ever-growing amount of accommodation for people who are not international protection applicants but who are beneficiaries of international protection. Deputy Coppinger may not want to assert it but she will know this something that is just not feasible. There has to be movement through the system of individuals who come in and apply for international protection. We have an obligation under the material conditions directive to provide them with that accommodation during their application process. Once that process comes to an end, we no longer have an obligation. It is not tenable for the State to provide endless accommodation after decisions have been made. It would be a recipe for quite significant trouble were that to arise. The Deputy asked me to intervene. I could fudge this with her and say something else but I will not intervene. I have to be consistent across the board. If somebody comes up to me here and asks me to intervene, I will be honest and say I will not do so. We have to have a rules-based system. Otherwise if I intervene on the basis of TDs contacting me and asking me to intervene, the system will become very unfair to the individuals concerned. --- 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