International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Gary Gannon (SD), Dublin Central

Before the Minister came in, the Minister of State talked about being a true democrat and about the Government having a democratic right to legislate. Nobody is refuting that. However, if the Minister knocked at any door in this country, as all of us across the Chamber do, who would ask that a victim of trafficking be compelled to go to a screening centre? There is no obligation on that. Screening procedures are not designed to ensure early trafficking detection. There are no clear referral pathways in the Bill to the national referral mechanism framework to identify and support victims of human trafficking and modern slavery. None of that exists in the Bill at the moment. We add a simple amendment where, if an applicant is presumed to be or is identified as a victim of trafficking, they will not be compelled to go to a screening centre where they can be detained. The Minister said it is for a potential maximum of two days, but there is no guarantee of that. Two days for a person who has been a victim of a horror unimaginable to all of us is a lifetime. It compounds trauma. It is unnecessary by any measurement. I would be interested to hear the Minister's reason as to how he will not be supporting a simple amendment such as this.

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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