International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Alan Kelly (LAB), Tipperary North

We will support this amendment. We in the Labour Party have some similar amendments later, some of which we may get to and the rest of which I guarantee we will not. The power of arrest and detention is something we have to be very careful about. How we prescribe this in law, making such definitions in the Bill in the catch-all manner in which we are doing so, brings me to the view that there is in a kind of underhand way profiling going on of those who can be detained as to why they are detained. As a country, if we are going to go down that route, we are really letting ourselves down because we are better than that. We should be treating people with respect. We obviously have to have a rules-based system for doing this, but we have to be very careful of the manner in which we bring in arrest and detention for individuals. While there are quite a number of amendments later detailing those who are trafficked, those who are vulnerable and a number of others, we need to start with this amendment because we may not get to the rest of them. That is why I will certainly support the amendment brought forward by my colleagues in the Social Democrats.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25