International Protection Bill 2026: From the Seanad Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15 ============================================================ Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South It does generally mean that at present. I have indicated this to the Deputy before - or I do not know if it was him - but he knows this puts pressure on prisons. I have looked before but I am going to have to start trying to identify a secure location where detention takes place but which is exclusively for immigration. That may be something at which I have to look. I am not giving a commitment to it but at present detention under the migration laws is detention within our prisons. What Deputy Carthy wants to achieve in terms of his amendment is for me to publish annual statistical information on the routes of entry. There are four requirements in his amendment. The first relates to the number of applicants presenting at a port or airport. That information is available. You can find out about individuals who have presented at the IPO office and there is sometimes information about people who present at ports or airports. We have that information and I think it is available. The second requirement relates to the number presenting inland. By that, I think the Deputy means the number presenting at the IPO. I assume that is what the term "presenting inland" relates to. Information in this regard is provided already; the statistics that come out show the numbers who apply at the IPO and at the airports and the ports. The third requirement relates to the number reporting entry via the common travel area. In effect, this applies to people who say they have come here from the UK. One would have to ask individuals about that to get that information and collate it. The fourth requirement relates to the number whose route of entry cannot not be established. As I said to Deputy Carthy, the collection of the type of data he is seeking to capture would require inquiry within the Department because it is possible that not all of this information is currently systematically captured by its IT systems in the manner specified in the amendment. I will look at it, but I cannot accept the amendment. I can inform the Deputy that the IPO publishes monthly statistics on applications. There is a huge amount of information contained within those statistics. However, the Deputy is correct that in terms of that primary information, it is guiding in terms of the policy that we have. However, it is overwhelmingly the case that the majority of people coming in and claiming international protection are doing so having come over the Border. The reason I can say that confidently is because if people were coming in through the airports, they would apply at there, as they are obliged to, and if they were coming through the ports, they would have to apply there. Deputy Carthy offered one example whereby people who are in Ireland already on visas could subsequently apply for international protection. I would have thought that would be a small cohort. That may reduce the numbers we can say are coming from Northern Ireland. I will look at it. Ultimately, there is no point in setting up a very complicated IT system for the purpose of telling us something that we know already. However, I will look at it and discuss it within the Department. --- 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/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-15