International Agreements
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

I do not believe it is pointless designating the UK a safe third country. That is what it is. The Deputy is aware of the politics of the United Kingdom probably just as well as anyone else in this House. There are considerable issues of sensitivity in the UK around accepting returns from other countries. The Deputy knows that. It is an issue of political sensitivity. I have spoken to the Home Secretary. I invited her to the informal meeting of the ports alliance on 16 July. We spoke shortly after the riots in Belfast. The reason that was of particular interest to her was because the suspect in that case was somebody who had landed at Dublin Airport, coming from Luxembourg, claimed asylum in Dublin and then left Dublin the very same day for Belfast. The next day in Belfast, he claimed asylum there. I said to the Home Secretary that this is an example of why we need a returns agreement in place.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-01