Council of the European Union Decision: Motions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Cormac Devlin (FF), Dún Laoghaire

I support the motions. This agreement lets airlines share booking data with the Republic of Korea in order to fight terrorism and serious crime. Korea is the first Asian country to agree such a deal with the European Union. The safeguards are strong. PNR data, as the Minister outlined, is depersonalised after six months, held for five years at most and passed on only with independent approval. Opting in also lets Korea share its findings with our passenger information unit and with Europol. These motions form one part of a wider effort to secure our borders, and the Minister deserves credit for this. He is extending our own passenger data checks to flights within the EU.
Since 12 June, every new applicant for protection is being screened with identity, security and biometric checks and the law is being enforced. Last year, 4,700 deportation orders were signed - almost double the year before. This year, 3,381 have been signed up to 18 September. The progress on processing has also been sped up. Early last year, a standard case waited a median of 18 months for a first decision. In 2025, the International Protection Office issued more than 20,000 first decisions, up from 13,000 the year before. The new International Protection Act sets six months for a standard case, and three months for accelerated and border cases. Since the pact began, average daily applications have fallen from 53 to 32. Irish people are generous. They want a system that is fair, fast and firm. I welcome the Minister’s efforts to deliver progress and, indeed, to reform the system. I also welcome the motions.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23