Matt Carthy
speaker
115 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 11 Jun
Matt Carthy’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
So to be very clear, there are some areas in which we absolutely need European coordination and Sinn Féin have supported those areas, such as the sharing of information across EU member states and the returns policy, which is in part.
On all other areas, the areas in which you've touched, we don't need an EU migration pact to process applications in a speedy manner.
We don't need an EU migration pact.
in order to enforce those decisions.
And we don't need an EU pact to undo the huge dysfunction that lies at the heart of our IPAS system, which has seen a small number of private entities being enriched to the tune of billions as a result of government incompetence.
But crucially, and this is the point that we have made, it's the point that my own committee, that I chair, the Justice Committee, raised at the pre-legislative scrutiny stage, and that Sinn Féin have consistently raised, government themselves...
have continually asserted that upwards of 80% of international protection applicants don't come from within the EU.
They actually come from Britain, a state in which we share a common travel area, but is completely outside of the pact.
And this pact takes no consideration of that fact of Ireland's unique circumstances.
What we have to have is a bespoke migration policy that is decided by the sovereign parliament of this state that can be amended and adapted as circumstances change to change in circumstances.
And we brought forward at different points in the passage of the International Protection Bill amendments that would have ensured that the bilateral agreement with Britain, which is required and which has to be part of our overall situation,
a migration approach is dealt with.
Colin Brophy and Fianna Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs rejected every one of those amendments.
Well, actually, there's probably no bigger area that United Ireland wouldn't bring immediate benefits and efficiencies because it is clear as an island nation the best way to manage migration is on an all-Ireland basis.
And we should be pursuing that on an ongoing basis.
We should also be pursuing a bilateral arrangement with Britain.
enhanced cooperation means nothing if you don't actually have a returns agreement in place.
And the difficulty is that Colm and Jim and the government have been concentrating all of their efforts on an EU framework that doesn't take into account the mechanism by which the majority of people who seek international protection in this state actually come.
There's a number of areas that need to just be clarified again.
it is possible within the EU framework to sign into those measures in which we need to have an EU framework.
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