International Protection Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-25
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

I will be very brief and will not go over all the same ground that Senator Alice-Mary Higgins did. However, I want to make a point on deportation and the training on and understanding of health. Even without this legislation, currently in Ireland if you receive a deportation order, you will have your access to healthcare, including medication, immediately revoked. A person could be on cancer medication, antipsychotic medication or diabetes medication. When a person goes through the asylum process and receives a deportation order, there is a period of time between receiving it and being deported. At the start of that period, a person's access to healthcare immediately stops. The individual is not allowed to continue with their healthcare, which could be very dangerous for them and, depending on the type of medication, others within their family or surrounding area. There is also a gap in understanding. When in the asylum process, you may not have the right to work but can access healthcare through certain channels. That entitlement is effectively being removed. Within this legislation, we need not only to correct that but also to ensure that if people are on particular medications or in receipt of particular healthcare interventions while in Ireland, these will continue, and that if they are deported on being refused asylum, they will be entitled to their medication until they are re-established.
There is a real gap here in terms of treating people with dignity and respect and from a human rights lens, especially in relation to a person's health status.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25