International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel

Maybe linked to that is the question as to whether we believe in the universality of the international human rights framework, which the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR, was designed to uphold, or whether we believe that some people have more rights than others, and whether we should prioritise different people based on where they are from in the context of the rights they can access.
Of course, Article 3 of the ECHR is the article in respect of which Ireland has taken two interstate cases - the only interstate cases that Ireland has taken against the British Government. The first was on the hooded men case from the 1970s in the North and the second was on the Tories' awful Legacy Act. It would be great to hear if we are bringing forward provisions or taking any measures that are attempting to change and alter Ireland's long-held and foundational position on the ECHR because we believe that some people as asylum seekers deserve more or fewer rights than our ordinary citizens.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19