International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18
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Sharon Keogan (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I thank the Minister. It is good to see him back in the House today. I support Senator Michael McDowell. I do not believe this will work, the reason being the current backlog in this country. There are over 20,000 people in the system who are awaiting a decision on their international protection application. Let us not just look at Ireland. Let us look at what is happening in the EU. Austria's backlog stands at 22,530. Belgium's backlog is a staggering 58,785. Bulgaria's backlog is 1,630 and the backlog in Cyprus is 23,225. Czechia's backlog stands at 625, while Denmark's backlog, which has been significantly reduced, is 2,465. Finland's backlog is 4,206. France's backlog is an extraordinary 153,090 and Germany, Europe's bellwether, has 306,000 applications pending. Greece's backlog is 31,945, Italy's backlog, and this is really important-----

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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