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Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2020-12-03
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

I have opposed sections 115 to 118, inclusive, because I had an overall concern. All the sections relate to policies on international protection. There are a number of flaws - anomalies and measures that are not compliant with human rights - within our international protection legislation, which it is proposed to re-insert here. I will not call votes on each section but I wanted to indicate that the reason I opposed the sections was I had concerns about this Part, because it is a particularly sensitive part. It will have a very real effect. There are many concerns about it and I would like there to have been greater scrutiny. Much of what is in the Part will merely cement what is already in law, and I do not know whether it needs to be included in the Brexit Bill. My amendments Nos. 5 and 6 have been ruled out of order, so I will not speak to them, but they will be addressed in the legislation next week, when we will have an opportunity to discuss the issue of deportations during a global pandemic. I do not mind that the amendments have been ruled out of order because we will have an opportunity to engage on them at that point.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2020-12-03/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:53+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-12-03