EU asylum pact- radical reform of migration or loss of control to Brussels
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What is the EU Migration Pact and when does it come into force?
Next, the EU Migration Pact comes into force on Friday. The state must now implement measures to ensure it meets legally binding deadlines for asylum decisions and appeals, process claims faster and undertake enhanced screening and registration of applicants. Critics of the pact say it fails to protect those fleeing persecution and undermines public confidence in the management of migration in communities across the country. Joining me in the studio now, Colm Brophy, Fine Gael TD for Dublin South West and Minister for Migration. And from our Oireachtas studio, we're joined by Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin TD for Cavan Monaghan and Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.
Good morning to you both. You're both very welcome. If I could start with you, Matt Carthy. The essence of this policy is that migration requires a European response, something that Sinn Féin disagrees with. Why?
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...
What are the criticisms of the EU Migration Pact?
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.
So we should be in lockstep with Britain rather than Europe?
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.
OK, I'll bring the Minister in now. Before I ask you about the pact and what's going to change tomorrow when it comes into force, do you want to respond to what Matt Carthy had to say there?
Well, Matt is going with his usual tune in relation to this. I mean, fundamentally, Matt and his party don't really agree with the European Union and with the solidarity that the European Union brings for us as a member state. And it's important to put just a couple of things right that Matt said. The Parliament did actually vote on this. We had a vote on the 15th of April. I think it was 86-62. It was decided that we would be part of the Migration Pact. Our Parliament decided that. We are a sovereign state. We will retain and make the decisions around migration here in Ireland by Irish people. But we will do that, most importantly, and different to what Sinn Féin always want, not just in an ad hoc, a little bit here or a little bit there, but in full cooperation with our EU partners.
Can I just say, the one member state... They're saying that they want to accept the bits that they like.
The one member state which he would be aware of is the United Kingdom, who left the European Union, unfortunately. And if you actually see the very, very...
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