Michael D Higgins calls on Council of State to discuss asylum bill

President Michael D Higgins has confirmed he is convening a meeting of the Council of State to examine whether the Government’s new asylum-seeker legislation is “repugnant” to the Constitution and should be forwarded to the Supreme Court.

The council will discuss the International Protection Bill 2015 on Tuesday. The bill would provide legislation for a single procedure on international protection applications.

When it was introduced, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the single procedure would allow the country to “efficiently grant international protection to those who are entitled to it”, and at the same time “identify, at a much earlier stage, persons who have no entitlement to stay in the State and who can safely return to their country of origin”.