Sharon Keogan: Use Ireland's EU Presidency to Fix Frontex
Sharon Keogan addresses the urgent need to reshape the Frontex mandate while Ireland holds the rotating EU presidency. She urges the Minister for Justice to take active leadership to restore operational capacity, intelligence sharing and return mechanisms at EU level.
Main demand: Keogan calls for the Irish presidency to strip out rights-promotion provisions she says have undermined Frontex, to stop internal activists harassing frontline border guards, and to remove bureaucratic barriers to operational intelligence sharing with Europol and national police forces.
Government position and leverage: She highlights that the government committed Ireland to the EU migration pact and now holds agenda-setting power in the Council of Ministers. Keogan argues ministers must match tough domestic rhetoric with decisive action on the Brussels stage.
Intelligence and returns: The address demands seamless human-trafficking intelligence sharing and expansion of offshore third-country return hubs, stressing that operational effectiveness requires technology and policing, not further NGO expansions.
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Leader, the future of Europe border security has been decided right now at the European Commission in currently drafting the renewed mandate of Frontex, the EU border police force, as Ireland holds the rotating EU presidency. The Minister for Justice cannot simply pose as a disinterested broker while our European borders are compromised. We must proactively shape this agenda. It's worth noting that the government pushed ahead with committing Ireland to the EU migration pact, despite widespread national sovereignty reservations from both houses on the grounds that the EU approach would be better. Added to this, we now have ministers posturing before the domestic electorate trying to project a tough stance on migration. They must put their actions where their rhetoric is and they must do so on the EU level they have signed our nation to. Hoarding the EU presidency gives this government massive agenda-setting leverage to the Council of Ministers. The Minister must use this chairing power to strip out counterproductive rights promotion provisions. Under the guise of good intention, these provisions and their enforcers have defanged and undermined Frontex. We must stop internal activists from harassing frontline border guards who are simply trying to enforce our laws. Furthermore, we must demand an end to bureaucratic data protecting red tape. It is absurd that Frontex is blocked from sharing critical human traffic intelligence directly with Europol or national police forces. The Minister should use Ireland's platform to mandate seamless intelligence sharing and expand offshore third country return hubs. We do not need a bloated humanitarian NGO. We need a highly effective technological border policing force. If this government wants to prove its tough stance on migration in real, it must use its unique presidency powers to push these common sense governmental reforms onto the Brussels negotiation table. Thank you and I also want to second the comments made by my deputy, by Senator Rona Mullen on the death of Van Whittacombe and it's a dark day for all those who serve in public office. For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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