International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-18
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Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel

I will make a few points on our amendments. Certainly I know that in cases I have been involved with in the past that fantastic local services in terms of legal advice were offered to people seeking asylum by local development partnerships, voluntary groups and NGOs. They were really useful in many cases. Interpreters had to be found locally, which brought its own challenges. This is going back several years in terms of asylum applications. It was almost a type of activity that grounded itself in local community support for asylum seekers when we would have considered the numbers to have been relatively low by European standards. I have a question about that. I am talking about the services provided by the Kilkenny LEADER partnership, for example, where they have migration support services, produce pamphlets in different languages, offer legal advice and have intercultural events for new communities. My question relates to the role of NGOs in all of this. The Bill sets out a lot of powers to the Minister of the day. This really seems to be a tenet of a lot of legislation the Government is bringing forward this term. Is there an active role there for advocacy services from NGOs, many of which right across the country are already providing services to people and families seeking asylum here?
There is also the question around the cultural mediator. That remains unclear. I welcome the clarification the Minister brought here today but this is a critical time in the process for people seeking asylum here, many of whom have young children and families of various generations. It is a really daunting process to come into a country where they do not know the legal landscape and or the cultural landscape. It needs to be a service that is supportive to their needs so they can have the best chance of putting their case forward. With the best of intentions, people with genuine applications can fall through the gaps on this. I have seen where genuine applications have fallen through the cracks and people have been deported to conflict zones or to difficult situations. For example, members of LGBTQI+ or other vulnerable groups can find it very difficult to go back to those countries.
I welcome the amendments being brought forward today. They belatedly define the concept of legal counselling and this provides some overdue clarity and reassurance. The fact remains, however, that we cannot accept a situation where there is any reduction in the level of legal assistance available to applicants. The Minister's amendment would not introduce any new concept into the Bill. Section 26 already lays out a wide range of rights and obligations that an applicant must be informed of. It is straightforwardly clear and obvious that we should include the legal assistance rights of the applicant. International protection applicants are vulnerable people navigating, as I said, complex legal processes. I would welcome some clarity on tha, particularly in relation to the role of NGOs and local advocacy services, many of which have been operating around the country and have grown into more streamlined services over recent years. This is a hugely important and critical part of the Bill that we need to get right. It needs to be right from a human rights perspective.

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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