International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West

Under section 74 of the International Protection Act 2015, the International Protection Office is independent in the performance of its function. Officers, in considering international protection applications at first instance, make recommendations to the Minister on the applications, but they do not make decisions. This provision was necessary at the time when the Act was drafted to allow the International Protection Appeals Tribunal to set aside a first instance recommendation and issue a fresh recommendation to the Minister. The ministerial decision unit in the IPO would then issue the final decision.
Under the timelines of the pact and Bill, this system of recommendations is no longer feasible. The Minister is the determining authority who will be responsible for issuing first-instance decisions. The measures under the pact do not require the independence of officers who will be performing the functions of the Minister. It is for this reason I do not propose to accept the amendment. By the way, the arrangements have been subject to very careful consideration by the Office of the Attorney General to ensure we are satisfied that this process is in place and correct.

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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