Refugee Council criticises Ireland’s plans to join in EU migration pact

New border procedure bids to speed up processing of people coming from safe countries and will apply to those who destroy their documents

Helen McEntee has made a move towards opting in to migration pact measures. Picture: PA Wire

The Irish Refugee Council has criticised Ireland’s plan to join the EU’s new migration pact, saying that there are “substantial concerns” about potential restriction of movement for refugees.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee secured approval to seek clearance from the Oireachtas to begin opting in to measures contained within the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact.

One major feature of the pact is a new ‘border procedure’, which aims to increase the speed of processing of people coming from safe countries. It will also apply to any entrants who have destroyed their identity documents, people believed to be a danger to national security, or those from countries with a 20% or lower approval rate for asylum applications in the EU.

Anyone processed under the border procedure will not be permitted to enter the State and will instead be accommodated at “designated locations” while applications are processed within three months.

However, if their applications are unsuccessful, they must be removed within three months.

CEO of the Irish Refugee Council Nick Henderson said the overall policy was “a case of the good, the bad, and the ugly”, and he was concerned about potential detention of asylum seekers.

Irish Refugee Council CEO Nick Henderson said he was concerned about potential detention of asylum seekers. Picture: Maxwells

“This seems to suggest some form or detention or restriction on movement, which is of substantial concern,” Mr Henderson said regarding the border procedure proposal.

Mr Henderson also criticised the Government’s revised plan to deal with the increased number of asylum seekers entering the country, describing it as “extremely light on detail”.

The plan will see the State purchase turnkey properties and empty offices and deliver rapid-build homes in a bid to provide 14,000 more beds before 2028.

“The near-term plan rests on converting office blocks — which is subject to the vagaries of the commercial property market — acquiring State land, and building prefabs that will have a lead-in time, and purchasing properties, that is unlikely to bring scale,” Mr Henderson said.

These sources of accommodation are also not scheduled to come on stream until mid-year at the earliest and there is little detail on how such a timeline will be achieved.

Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman also warned Cabinet that there is now an “increasing likelihood” that refugee families, including women and children, may be unable to access housing supports from the State over the coming weeks and months.

Mr Henderson described such a scenario as being of “grave concern” and a “doomsday scenario”.

“The prospect of women and children being without accommodation should cause alarm and action across all of Government,” Mr Henderson said.