European Convention on Human Rights
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-05
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

I thank the Minister of State. Can he be explicit about whether the Department and the Government will meet IHREC before those negotiations in less than two weeks? IHREC has a clear mandate in this area. It has been given that mandate by the Irish Government and has a clear interest and stake in this. I get that the Irish Government believes in the Good Friday Agreement but I did not get an answer on what consultation was done about the implications of signing a letter that would see us question Articles 3 and 8, two areas on which the Government has taken inter-state cases against the UK Government. It is absolutely absurd.
On the issue of maintaining and committing to the convention, that is not what the signature in December last year represented. It represented a significant waiver on our question of human rights. That is what is concerning.
As for contemporary challenges posed by irregular migration, France, Germany, Spain and Türkiye were not among the signatories to this letter, despite these four countries alone hosting 50% of all refugees and asylum seekers and people under temporary protection in Europe. Those four countries, the states which, objectively, have the biggest migration challenge, are not jumping on the populist bandwagon of signing this joint statement. The French ambassador at the Council of Europe described the move by the 27 signatories as "insidious" to human rights and the human rights frameworks. That is why I am concerned.
The Minister for justice, when asked by my colleague Deputy Gannon, could not provide any figures for the number of deportations blocked due to the ECHR or the European Court of Human Rights. There is no data available for that. Again, I point to the veracity of the argument around needing to sign this letter. In his speech on December, the Minister referred to the need for clarity about inhumane and degrading treatment. I do not know why we need clarity on what is torture, what is inhumane and what is degrading treatment, particularly in light of the inter-state cases we took on the hooded men. It is obscene.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-05