International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel This is a broader opportunity for Senators to comment briefly on the Bill. I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service for its comprehensive paper on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. It is disappointing to note how little of that was taken on board. We can talk about that as we go through the Bill. I do not know what advice the Minister got but there are elements peppered through the Bill that I intend to bring up on various Stages, if the Bill is not guillotined. I do not know if the Minister has made a decision on that. Has he set down in his diary that he intends to guillotine the Bill this week? He guillotined it in the Dáil, which was very disappointing. The Government has a huge majority and can effectively do anything. The Minister believes in parliamentary democracy and is an amazing practitioner of it, as well as being a senior counsel, so he is well able to think and stand on his feet. I always commend him on that. I will make a few points. That amendments were ruled out of order is not a good start. I am conscious of the capacity in this legislation to deal with what the Minister is setting out to achieve. I do not agree with everything he is attempting to do and I will tease that out in a respectful manner, which is the appropriate way to do things in these Houses. I draw the Minister's attention to a judicial review in the High Court. He will be very familiar with this case. It is the High Court judicial review 2023/209 JR [2026] IEHC 90. It concerns a directive of the 2013/33 European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018. The Minister for Children, Equality and Disability, Integration and Youth, Ireland and the Attorney General were the respondents. The Minister will know in that case that compensation was awarded to the two individuals anonymised in the findings of the judicial review publication for good reason. The State was found to have failed to meet certain obligations that we are bound to and have signed up to, and that is an important point. The Minister is now introducing legislation that will be very significant and seeks to put in place a new EU framework to manage migration and asylum in the long term, to ensure that Ireland's policy aligns with other EU countries, regardless of what we might think of them, and to replace the International Protection Act 2015. I read the press release issued when the Minister announced that he had Government approval to proceed with the Bill. He said its stated objective was to provide a fair, efficient and robust asylum procedure that is consistent with asylum laws. I refer to a reception in Kerry attended by the Minister for new citizens and people coming into this country who had signed up to pledge allegiance to the State and were welcomed. The Minister spoke very eloquently on that occasion. I did not attend, but because I had heard so much about it I took the time to get the script from his Department. He spoke about the Constitution, and about the harp and what it symbolises. He had analogies about tradition, music and melody, and how proud people could be to be Irish citizens. It was very moving and I want to genuinely acknowledge and congratulate the Minister on his speech. Some weeks and months later, I heard other statements he made in the House and began to think there was a slight drift from those remarks. I may need further clarification. I will not rush to judgment, but what he said in Kerry is somewhat inconsistent with remarks he has made since then. In his press release announcing the Bill, the Minister said the Government fundamentally believes in the right to claim asylum and will always uphold our obligations on this important principle of international law for those who need our protection. That is fantastic. At the same time, the press release went on to say that the Minister recognises that our current system for processing international protection applications could be more efficient, faster and less costly. It also stated that the International Protection Bill will reset our international protection system; streamline decisions and returns processes; introduce a new border procedure, with a three-month time limit for decisions, appeals and return orders in appropriate cases; and create a new body, the tribunal of asylum returns appeals, TARA, which I welcome. He said that the Bill will also establish a new chief inspector of asylum border procedures and an independent rights monitor, which I welcome. The press release went on to say that these reforms will continue to ensure the rights of the applicant under EU and Irish law. My biggest concern is children. The Minister and Attorney General have said they are developing measures to be included in the Bill to give effect to proposals approved by the Government on 26 November 2025, namely that adults who are beneficiaries of international protection will not be entitled to seek family reunification for a period of three years following the granting of international protection. I have some concerns about that. We have obligations. We talk about the uniqueness of children. There cannot be any less favourable support or any conditionality attached to children inside or outside of the State once they are within the State, not necessarily legally. In this State, we have a moral obligation to protect children who could have come here through any guise, possibly unknown to themselves, and who have had no hand, act or part in their coming here. We have a moral obligation and that will be a central theme of my contribution to the Bill. I understand we need clarity. I understand we need consistency. I understand we need fairness. "Robustness" is not always a word I like to use, certainly not in this context, but it is important. We have many obligations. This is a big ask. It is a big shift that the Minister is proposing but we need to be satisfied that he can do it in a timely manner. There is not the same pressure, as Senator McDowell talked about earlier on, to deliver this. There are options - opt-out sections to all of this - and that is important. There are enough concerns. Advocates for human rights have made great submissions. When we look at the detail, in which members of the Minister's party were involved in the Oireachtas committee and its recommendations, it raises the question about the Government's commitment to this process. I will finish on that point. We are coming here in a spirit of co-operation, but doing what we believe is right - standing on our feet, articulating what we see all around us and for the people who have spoken to us. The Minister will receive our contributions in a way that is meaningful and respectful too, but I would ask him not to use the power that is in his hands to guillotine very important legislation. We have loads of time. Let us get this right. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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