International Protection Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-03
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Garret Kelleher (FG), Industrial and Commercial Panel

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Brophy, go dtí an Seanad tráthnóna inniu chun éisteacht agus labhairt linn mar gheall ar an mBille um Chosaint Idirnáisiúnta, 2026. I welcome the International Protection Bill before us. I believe that, as detailed by the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, it provides the reforms needed to ensure that our asylum system in Ireland is both fair and effective. The Bill lays the legislative groundwork, as detailed by the Minister of State, for the implementation of the directive on reception conditions and the six regulations referenced by the Minister of State in his opening remarks under the European Union pact on migration and asylum.
I know that I and others have made reference in this Chamber to the exponential increase we saw in the numbers of international protection applications in recent years. However, I feel it is worth repeating this to provide context for the introduction of the Bill before us.
In the four years from 2016 to 2019, the average number of international protection applications received by Ireland was approximately 2,500 per year. In 2022, the number of international protection applications received rose dramatically to 13,500. The year 2023 saw a similar number of applications and in 2024 we again saw an increase in the number of international protection applications, which rose to over 16,500. The cumulative total of over 55,000 applications received in this three-year period from 2022 to 2024 was approximately equivalent to the overall number of applications received for the previous 16 years.
In an effort to deal with this and to provide a humane response to the sharp increase in applications, the State had to act fast in its efforts to offer those seeking asylum accommodation and shelter while their applications were being processed. Given the scale and the timescale of the increase in applications, many of the solutions provided were temporary in nature and were never intended to be long-term solutions. If we pass the Bill, we will significantly reduce the time taken to process international protection applications, to less than three months, and we will greatly reduce our current dependency on hotels and guesthouses to provide accommodation for international protection applicants, thereby enabling those venues to be used for tourism and attracting new visitors to towns, villages and communities across the country.
In laying the legislative groundwork for the EU migration and asylum pact, the Bill ensures that we will play our part in establishing a common European approach to addressing migration and to processing international protection applications in a firm and fair way that gives clarity and certainty to applicants in a more timely manner than we have seen in recent years. I believe the majority of Irish people want to see this fairer and more effective rules-based system introduced. It will grant people the right to remain in this country and contribute if their application is successful, and if their application is unsuccessful, this decision will also be arrived at more quickly than we have seen recently, without long periods of uncertainty and waiting in IPAS centres. That this is far fairer all round. Mar sin, ba mhaith liom mo chuid tacaíochta a thabhairt don Bhille. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-03/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-03