The EU migration and asylum pact is a “united effort of Europe” and essential for Ireland, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said.
He warned in the Dáil against “divisive myths” and said “crime does not increase in locations where asylum seekers are living”.
Mr Harris said “there is no implantation of men” and “Ireland most certainly is not full”. These myths “are designed to sow division and to spread fear and it is these narratives that can cause riots in our capital city like those we saw just last year”.
The Taoiseach was opening a two-day Dáil debate on the pact which aims to standardise the response across all member states to international protection, asylum and migration.
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He said that up until now the EU had been “divided and too fragmented” and the pact offered a way to handle migration with compassion and common sense.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said “those who aspire to some mythical purity on this island” were attempting to import the “little Englander” mentality which was “overwhelmingly rejected by the Irish people”.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that “from start to finish we need a system that works faster” and is “fit for purpose”. New legislation will be introduced in parallel “with the complete re-engineering of our system”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said however that it was “shocking” that the Government is not opting out of any aspect of the pact, which she described as a “dangerous erosion” of Irish sovereignty.
Ms McDonald said that in dealing with taxation, foreign affairs and migration “power should remain with the Irish Government”.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said there should be a united approach in the EU to migration but this pact did not properly deliver on solidarity with the global south and she rejected the Government’s “take it or leave it” attitude.
Hitting out at the toxicity and scaremongering that dominated the debate on migration she stressed that seeking asylum “is a human right”.
Ms Bacik suggested an EU-wide visa system like the Donnelly visa system operated by the US.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said “we need a fair, humane and efficient asylum system” but the Government’s incompetence had led to “chaos, division and rising hate”.
She described individual aspects were worth opting into but her party had “very serious human rights concerns” with the overall pact which she described as “dangerous”.
Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath said the Oireachtas Justice committee had finished debating the pact a month ago but the Government deliberately delayed the Dáil until after the local and European elections.
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