The Irish Refugee Council has criticised Ireland’s plan to join the EU’s new migration pact, saying that there are “substantial concerns” about potential restriction of movement for refugees.
On Wednesday, Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee secured approval to seek clearance from the Oireachtas to begin opting in to measures contained within the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact.
As the Irish Examiner reports, one major feature of the pact is a new ‘border procedure’, which aims to increase the speed of processing of people coming from safe countries.
It will also apply to any entrants who have destroyed their identity documents, people believed to be a danger to national security, or those from countries with a 20 per cent or lower approval rate for asylum applications in the EU.
Anyone processed under the border procedure will not be permitted to enter the State and will instead be accommodated at “designated locations” while applications are processed within three months.
However, if their applications are unsuccessful, they must be removed within three months.
Chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, Nick Henderson said the overall policy was “a case of the good, the bad, and the ugly”, and he was concerned about potential detention of asylum seekers.
“This seems to suggest some form or detention or restriction on movement, which is of substantial concern,” Mr Henderson said regarding the border procedure proposal.
Mr Henderson also criticised the Government’s revised plan to deal with the increased number of asylum seekers entering the country, describing it as “extremely light on detail”.
The plan will see the State purchase turnkey properties and empty offices and deliver rapid-build homes in a bid to provide 14,000 more beds before 2028.
“The near-term plan rests on converting office blocks — which is subject to the vagaries of the commercial property market — acquiring State land, and building prefabs that will have a lead-in time, and purchasing properties, that is unlikely to bring scale,” Mr Henderson said.
