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

I will deal first with Senator Ruane's question. As she will be aware, under Part 4, and in particular Chapter 2, which deals with the determination of the member state responsible, it is the Minister, namely, me, who determines the member state responsible in respect of the application. There is a process that continues in respect of that. Section 74 deals with the "Determination of Member State responsible - assessment whether applicant poses threat to internal security". Section 75 deals with a "Personal interview for determining Member State responsible". A statutory regime is set out there in Chapter 2 of Part 4. It involves the determination of which member state is responsible. In the first instance, that is obviously the determining authority, namely, me.
The only role that a legal counsellor will have in respect of that is that he or she will explain to the applicant, will give guidance on and explanation of the criteria and procedure for determining the member state responsible. The legal counsellors are not making any decision in respect of it. They are simply giving the applicants guidance as to what is meant by Chapter 2 of Part 4 in section 72, and onwards, and giving someone an indication that their application will be assessed and that there are certain relevant circumstances in respect of their application. It may be the case that the application could be determined to be the responsibility of another member state. No decision is being made by the counsellor. All he or she is doing is providing guidance in respect of it.
In response to Senator Ryan, when we look at the definition that Sinn Féin wanted to include, the likelihood, on the basis of what I have indicated, is that legal counselling will be provided by paralegals or employees of the Legal Aid Board. That is the likely basis upon which it will be provided.
In reply to Senator Keogan, this is a litigious and legally heavy area, but there will be an opportunity, by putting in this definition of "legal counselling", for people to be informed and provided with general advice, not legal advice but general advice, as to the procedure in place. That is of benefit to applicants because they will know what the procedure is and what their obligations are.

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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