International Protection Bill 2026: From the Seanad
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

In terms of family reunification, on 4 September last year the UK on suspended refugee family reunification.
They suspended it in the UK. An aspect of UK policy I have to be conscious of is that if something is changed in the UK which makes Ireland a more materially attractive place for persons to come, it is a factor I have to take into account. It may not sound virtuous, but I want to try to reduce numbers of people coming into Ireland claiming asylum because I know from the statistics that there are too many people coming here claiming asylum who are found not to be entitled to it. I am not asking anyone to comment on the matter or agree with me, but that is the policy objective here.
One of my concerns was that if Ireland had a family reunification policy for refugees that was more attractive than in the UK it could become a pull factor in Ireland. The Oireachtas is entitled to objectively set out what we think is reasonable when it comes to family reunification. It is a big obligation to place on a State that when it takes somebody in who is a refugee, it will also take in their family.

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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