Mary Lou McDonald: EU Migration Pact Hands Away Irish Decisions

Taoiseach, on Friday the EU migration pact comes into effect. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have decided to opt Ireland into that pact. This was the wrong decision to hand over powers on migration to the European Union. We in Sinn Féin have made it clear that this pact undermines Irish sovereignty. We've told you that decisions on migration should be taken, must be taken, by the people of this country. We've also told you that the pact ignores our unique challenges and circumstances, especially that our country is still partitioned and that we share a common travel area with Britain. This pact won't fix the problems that your government presides over in the international protection system. It won't end the outrageous level of profiteering that has made millionaires of a small number of people or address your failure to engage with communities and protect social cohesion. It won't deliver the robust, fast, enforced system that we need and it certainly won't provide respect, dignity and a human rights-based response for those who flee war and persecution for safety. Taoiseach, over the last year the Minister for Justice has spent a huge amount of time and resources preparing for the commencement of this pact and rushing the International Protection Bill through the Oireachtas. This was intended to give the impression that progress is being made in tackling the dysfunction in Ireland's international protection system, but the facts tell a very, very different story. In April there were 20,469 appeals pending. That's up 8,000 from the same month last year. Between applications and appeals there were over 33,000 cases pending in April 2026. So whilst the numbers of applicants for international protection made in 2025 dropped from the previous year, the number of cases pending has increased and that tells you that the system is clogged up and is not working. And Taoiseach, it's still taking 16 months for standard cases to be processed and a further 16 months for appeal. So that makes it all the more incredible that it's only today that your government is considering the appointment of a Chief Appeals Officer, utter incompetence, and it doesn't stop there. When it comes to those refused permission to remain, you don't know whether the majority have left or not. And scandalously you've done nothing to secure a bilateral agreement with Britain. See Taoiseach, the truth is we don't need an EU migration pact to get on top of processing times, to stop the profiteering, or to carry out deportations. What we need is a competent government. And from the figures I outlined earlier we can see that your government isn't that government. Be bhfuath tún móir éad an ríochas síonamh suas, de chó chucro an aontais eorabh ag maddeir le haimerce agus tearmhain. Be chóir, go náin tur cíon siadh maddeir le haimerce anso in Eireann Taoiseach, your decision to opt into the pact to hand key decision-making powers to Brussels is wrong. Do you accept that this has consequences for Irish sovereignty? Do you accept that the absence of a bilateral agreement with Britain compounds this problem? And do you accept that your government's handling of these issues undermines public confidence, letting down both communities here and, crucially, those who come here in need of protection from war and persecution? I accept, Deputy, that you've been very dishonest in your presentation on this issue. You've been deliberately manipulative and you're endeavouring to win votes on the back of the migration issue. But the problem for you is, the problem for you is you're flip-flopping all over the place. Sometimes when the far-left and the far-right unite against legislation I think we've hit the right spot. You don't know which way to turn or which way to jump at any given time on this issue. Because, of course, your assertion that your party have opposed the Asylum Pact from the very beginning is simply not true. Sinn Féin voted in favour of opting into two parts of the pact in the European Parliament in April 2024. That was the Asylum Migration Management Regulation and the EURIDAC Regulation. EURIDAC is the European Union's Asylum and Migration Database. It's the cornerstone for the implementation of the EU's Pact on Asylum and Migration. But, of course, you turned tacky again. You changed your position when the legislation, the International Protection Act, came before the House. It wasn't rushed through the House. There was pre-legislative scrutiny. Pre-legislative scrutiny. There was a long debate on second stage. It went through committee stage. And, again, it is a very comprehensive piece of legislation. And, again, we're not succeeding any sovereignty. We're not giving away any decision-making powers. Irish officials will still make decisions on whether applicants are granted protection status. And Garda Síochána will still police our borders. And Ireland will still control our deportation process. So the pact does not result in Ireland giving up its sovereignty in the area of immigration. And no amount of empty, shallow, sound bites will change that reality and that truth. And that is all you're about. It's all your postings and the online stuff. It's as if this bill was never debated in the Dáil. You kind of created, there's a whole sort of flurry of activity created last week by all sorts online. You know, filling everyone's kind of emails about something desperate's going to happen this, you know, in the next week because of this Act coming in. The Act has been signed off by the President following, you know, the following passage through the House. We never had a situation before where legislation was passed and there's an attempt made to try and fool the people into believing that it's all going to happen this week when, in fact, this has been debated at great length in the House already. The bill provides the Act that the Minister brought through the House for faster processing, including a border procedure, for applicants to have all decisions and appeals concluded within three months. And you referenced the Chief Appeals Officer there, to the Tribunal Officer, as if it was the first time ever. Like, how dishonest are you prepared to be when you're talking about these issues in the House? You know that the new Act is bringing in a new appeals process. But the existing appeals process, under the old framework, continues at pace to deal with all of the cases that were applied for prior to the introduction of this Act. Now, you know that. Your spokespeople know that. But yet you come in here and deliberately, deliberately distort the truth in terms of the legislation. It's about time you stopped playing these kind of games. Because we're dealing with people here, too. Human beings. And all you're interested in is exploiting it for electoral advantage. But your problem is, when the far-right start shouting, you go over there and genuflect. And when the far-left do it, you throw in a few things about human rights and so on like that. You don't know which way you are on this issue. That's your problem. Thank you Taoiseach. Deputy Mayor Lou MacDonald. Oh Taoiseach, I am very, very sure of our ground on this. And I am very sure where we are. Let me spell it out for those of you at the back who may not have heard it clearly enough. Decisions relating to migration, to justice and home affairs are rightly decided in Ireland by those elected by the Irish people. That's why we had a special provision. That's why there was a necessity for you to opt this country in. You say that you haven't conceded sovereignty. Of course you have. By the very act of opting Ireland into this pact, you concede that point. You see, you're happy, not alone to be incompetent in your roles. You go a step further and hand those decisions away to people in Brussels. We think that's wrong. We have consistently argued that that is the wrong approach. And let me tell you this, you're in geographic denial as well. This country is still Time is up, Deputy. Taoiseach to respond. Deputy MacDonald, Taoiseach to respond. Respect to the Chair. Taoiseach, please. Again, I have to say one more time to you. The pact and the act that the Minister introduced does not in any shape or form give up our sovereignty in the area of immigration. Irish officials Irish officials will still make, you can't even give a specific reason or area where we do. Because all four minutes, you've had four and a half minutes, it's been soundbite after soundbite with no substance behind it. The bottom line here is Irish officials will make the decisions still in terms of applicants. The Gardaí Siochána will still police our borders. Ireland will still control our deportation process. I have to be fair to Minister O'Callaghan. He is brought in and he's very focused on a firm, robust migration system, much faster times in terms of administration, of the initial phase of the applicants who make their applications and then on the appeal to get done much faster. That's what we're doing and we're also have increased the number of deportation orders quite significantly over the last while. The importance of this is, of course, it enables us to return migrants as well back to countries where they probably originally originated with their applications. That is important. That makes sense. And likewise on the Common Travel Area. The Common Travel Area will be here long. Time is up. Thank you Taoiseach.