Immigration Bill - Integration is key not internment

It seemed extraordinary that on being interviewed on RTÉ’s This Week programme yesterday, Tánaiste Michael McDowell was not even asked about his controversial address on Saturday suggesting asylum seekers should essentially be held in detention while awaiting a decision on their asylum applications.

He made the controversial suggestion in an address to the Law Society about the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill being introduced during this Dáil term. He said he was seriously considering the possibility of detaining asylum seekers “on arrival in the State or on later making their claims for protection”.

This would apply from the time the application was made and through any appeal process. If the application was rejected, the claimant would be promptly deported.