International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

However, I do sometimes consider legislation from the point of view of how it will be determined if it is before a court or a judge. The amendment the Deputy wants to insert relates to an applicant who is a presumed or identified victim of trafficking. I am not trying to make a legal point, but I need to know, and a court would need to know with precision how the Minister knows if somebody is a presumed victim of trafficking, or how he knows if they are an identified victim of trafficking.
Deputy Gibney may disagree me with on this, but it cannot just be that if the person says they are a victim of trafficking, that is it. In that instance, why are we going through the whole process? When people come in and say they are fleeing persecution, why do we not tell them they are entitled to international protection because they said they are fleeing persecution? It would be completely inconsistent to say that a person is a victim of trafficking simply because they say so. We do not automatically accept that. I do not think any Member is suggesting that if a person arrives and says they are entitled to refugee status, they should automatically get it.

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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