International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I thank Senator McDowell for his question. I will state at the outset that I recognise the Committee Stage amendments before the Seanad represent a considerable body of work. The Senator mentioned the fact that the Bill was guillotined in Dáil Éireann. That is correct, but there was extensive debate nonetheless on Second Stage. I think we debated for three days on Second Stage. There was also Committee Stage, which was truncated, and Report Stage.
It is true that not just Ireland but all the other countries in the European Union that have agreed to sign up to the regulations and directives to harmonise systems of migration are under time pressure to get this body of work in place. I believe it will be to the benefit of Ireland in the long run if there is a harmonised system of asylum law across the overwhelming part of the EU that has agreed to transpose the pact into domestic legislation.
I will say, just to cover myself in respect of future things, that there will be some additional matters that I will have to bring forward on Report Stage. Those include data sharing; matters relating to the collection of fingerprint data from applicants; some amendments arising from the new Part 4 on reception conditions and Part 5 on restrictions of freedom of movement in detention; the repeal of section 20 of the 2015 Act, which deals with detention under the Act; provision for the monitoring of accommodation centres; amendments to the Child Care Act 1991, the Children First Act 2015 and the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012; matters relating to permission of applicants to enter or remain; some minor technical amendments to section 156, which deals with the withdrawal of international protection; and clarification of the provisions of the Bill relating to superannuation.
Senator McDowell raised an issue in respect of his amendment, which is an amendment in respect of section 126 of the Bill. That section deals with restrictions on freedom of movement during asylum border procedure. The Senator's question is how the asylum border procedure is going to be applied from 12 June onwards.
I can tell him that this process is already ongoing because since last year, my Department has already begun to operate elements of the new asylum border procedure and to transition gradually to fully implementing the pact. This transition is being undertaken within the framework of the International Protection Act 2015. To begin this transition, new pact readiness teams were established in June 2025 and operations began in the Citywest reception centre. The phased approach has enabled my Department to test the ability of the international protection system in its entirety to process cases within the required timeframe of the future asylum border procedure and to make adjustments where necessary. This work has allowed my Department to identify pressure points and practical challenges across the process to create new standard operating procedures and to set out future training needs. The type of cases that are being dealt with at present under the pilot project, which is seeking to implement what the pact will look like, involve applications from safe countries and applications where the acceptance level is less than 20%. They are the type of cases that will be dealt with subsequently under the expedited procedures once the new legislation comes into effect on 12 June.
Senator McDowell's amendment, which has been ruled out of order, concerns section 126 of the Bill. Just so that people are aware, it is my intention that section 126 will come into operation on 12 June. The formal designation under section 126(1) of a premises as a location for the asylum border procedure will be done and operational with effect from 12 June. Senator McDowell's proposal, which was ruled out of order, proposed a positive resolution of each House of the Oireachtas should be required to approve any commencement order. I do not believe that such a provision is necessary since any commencement order can be made under section 1 of the Bill.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-18