Family Reunification
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I will go to the European Court of Human Rights. In its judgments it has consistently said that when it comes to family reunification, a member state is entitled to engage in a balancing act to ensure there is a fair balance between, on the one hand, the applicant's interest in being reunited with his family and, on the other, the interest of the community as a whole to control immigration with a view to protecting the economic well-being of the country, ensuring the effective integration of those granted protection and preserving social cohesion. That is a diktat that is used repeatedly by the European Court of Human Rights in challenges to family reunification.
In regard to family reunification as well, I have a breakdown here of the figures on the make-up of the family relationships for the numbers coming in. It is not just daughters, sons, husbands or mothers; it is also brothers and sisters.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27