Q&A: What is the EU Migration Pact and how will it affect Ireland?
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The new EU Migration Pact is an agreement that seeks to change how European countries manage the flow of asylum seekers into the European Union.
One of its key aims is to improve burden-sharing of asylum applications across the European Union, due to some EU member states receiving a disproportionate number of international protection applicants.
Ireland would be required to either relocate asylum seekers from other countries, or make a financial contribution to an EU-wide fund.
There are also due to be expanded categories of asylum seekers who will be fingerprinted and checked against the Eurodac database, alongside the introduction of new border procedures.
The Government has previously confirmed Ireland will be opting in to the new migration pact. The Government will be required to introduce new immigration laws within the next two years to be compliant.
This new legislation is due to be a complete replacement of the existing International Protection Act 2015, which would:
- contain legally binding timeframes for decisions on international protection applications
- ensure returns for unsuccessful applicants
- more quickly process people who come from safe countries, those with no or false documents and those crossing borders illegally
It had previously been reported that Ireland could pay up to €13m into the EU fund instead of taking in 648 asylum seekers every year.
Up until now, EU asylum regulations have been done under the Dublin Convention which primarily states that international protection applicants must only apply for asylum within the first European state they arrive in.
Nick Henderson, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, said that while some aspects of the pact are welcome, there are “serious concerns”.
“There is an attempt to limit access to the asylum procedure through something called the screening regulation, which means that a person may not actually access the asylum process in Europe,” he told RTÉ Radio.
He also flagged concerns about the new border procedure, which applies to applicants from countries with asylum acceptance rates of less than 20%. These will be fast-tracked by the Government, but applicants will not be authorised to enter Ireland and instead be accommodated at designated locations.
“We would have great concern about the idea, particularly for children, of limiting — at the very least — their ability to move and restricting their movement within Ireland."
On the same day the Government signed up to the Migration Pact, the Cabinet also agreed on a plan to overhaul accommodation provision for international protection applicants.
The proposals are to move away from a full reliance on private accommodation providers and towards a core of State-owned accommodation, with plans to deliver an additional 14,000 State-owned beds by 2028.
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