2026-06-09

I welcome everyone back as we head into our last session of the term. I call Deputy McDonald to commence Leaders' Questions under Standing Order 38.

On Friday, the EU migration pact comes into effect. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have decided to opt Ireland into that pact. It was the wrong decision to hand over powers on migration to the European Union. We in Sinn Féin have made it clear that this pact undermines Irish sovereignty. We have told the Government that decisions on migration should be taken - must be taken - by the people of this country. We have also told it that the pact ignores our unique challenges and circumstances, especially that our country is still partitioned and that we share a common travel area with Britain. This pact will not fix the problems that the Government presides over in the international protection system. It will not end the outrageous level of profiteering that has made millionaires of a small number of people or address the Government's failure to engage with communities and protect social cohesion. It will not deliver the robust, fast, enforced system that we need and it certainly will not provide respect, dignity and a human rights based response for those who flee war and persecution for safety. Over the last year, the Minister for justice has spent a huge amount of time and resources preparing for the commencement of this pact and rushing the International Protection Bill through the Oireachtas. This was intended to give the impression that progress is being made in tackling the dysfunction in Ireland's international protection system, but the facts tell a very different story. In April, there were 20,469 appeals pending. That is up 8,000 from the same month last year. Between applications and appeals, there were over 33,000 cases pending in April 2026, so while the numbers of applicants for international protection made in 2025 dropped from the previous year, the number of cases pending has increased. That tells us that the system is clogged up and is not working. It is still taking 16 months for standard cases to be processed and a further 16 months for appeal. That makes it all the more incredible that it is only today that the Government is considering the appointment of a chief appeals officer. It is utter incompetence and it does not stop there. When it comes to those refused permission to remain, the Government does not know whether the majority have left or not and, scandalously, it has done nothing to secure a bilateral agreement with Britain. The truth is we do not need an EU migration pact to get on top of processing times, to stop the profiteering or to carry out deportations. What we need is a competent government and from the figures I outlined earlier, we can see that this Government is not that government. Ba bhotún mór é don Rialtas síniú suas do chomhshocrú an Aontais Eorpaigh maidir le himirce agus tearmann. Ba chóir go ndéanfaí cinntí maidir le himirce anseo in Éirinn. The Government's decision to opt into the pack to hand key decision-making powers to Brussels is wrong. Does the Taoiseach accept that this has consequences for Irish sovereignty? Does he accept that the absence of a bilateral agreement with Great Britain compounds this problem? Does he accept that his Government's handling of these issues undermines public confidence letting down both communities here and, crucially, those who come here in need of protection from war and persecution?

Tá an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta dochreidte. Níl sí macánta faoin cheist seo in aon chor. Níl sí ceart ach an oiread. Caithfidh mé a rá go bhfuil cúrsaí polaitíochta i gceist aici. Níl sí i ndáiríre in aon chor maidir leis an gceist seo. The Deputy is being very dishonest in her presentation of this issue. She is being deliberately manipulative and is endeavouring to win votes on the back of the migration issue. The problem for Sinn Féin is that it is flip-flopping all over the place. Sometimes when the far left and the far right unite against legislation, I think we have hit the right spot. Sinn Féin does not know which way to turn or which way to jump at any given time on this issue because Deputy McDonald's assertion that her party has opposed the asylum pact from the very beginning is simply not true. Sinn Féin voted in favour of opting into two parts of the pact in the European Parliament in April 2024 through its MEP Chris MacManus - the asylum and migration management regulation and the Eurodac regulation. Eurodac is the EU's asylum and migration database and is the corner-stone of the implementation of the EU pact on asylum and migration. Of course, Sinn Féin turned tack again and changed its position when the International Protection Act came before the House. It was not rushed through the House. There was pre-legislative scrutiny, a long debate on Second Stage and it went through Committee Stage. It is a very comprehensive piece of legislation. We are not ceding any sovereignty. We are not giving away any decision-making powers. Irish officials will still make decisions on whether applicants are granted protection status, An Garda Síochána will still police our borders and Ireland will still control our deportation process, so the pact does not result in Ireland giving up its sovereignty in the area of immigration and no amount of empty, shallow, soundbites will change that reality and that truth. That is all Sinn Féin is about - all its postings and the online stuff. It is as if this Act was never debated in the Dáil. A flurry of activity was created last week by all sorts online and filling everyone's emails about something desperate that is going to happen in the next week because of this pact coming in. The Act has been signed off on by the President following its passage through the House. We have never had a situation where legislation was passed and an attempt was made to try and fool the people into believing that it is all going to happen this week, when in fact this has been debated at great length in the House already. The Act the Minister brought through the House provides for faster processing, including a border procedure for applicants to have all decisions and appeals concluded within three months. The Deputy referenced the chief appeals officer to the tribunal for asylum seekers as if it was the first time ever. How dishonest is she prepared to be when she is talking about these issues in the House? She knows that the new Act is bringing in a new appeals process, but the existing appeals process under the old framework continues apace to deal with all of the cases that were applied for prior to the introduction of this Act. The Deputy knows that and the Sinn Féin spokespeople know that, yet you come in here and deliberately distort the truth in terms of the legislation. It is about time you stopped playing these kind of games because we are dealing with people here too - human beings - and all Sinn Féin is interested in is exploiting it for electoral advantage. However, Sinn Féin's problem is that when the far right start shouting, it goes over there and genuflects and when the far left does it, it throws in a few things about human rights and so on.

Stop it.

Sinn Féin does not know which way it is on this issue. That is its problem.

Hear, hear.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald to respond.

I am very, very sure of our ground on this and I am very sure where we are.

Please, afford the same respect. Allow the leader to respond.

Wits' end.

Let me spell it out for those at the back who maybe have not heard it clearly enough. Decisions relating to migration, justice and home affairs are rightly decided in Ireland by those elected by the Irish people. That is why we had a special provision. That is why there was a necessity for the Government to opt this country in. The Taoiseach says he has not conceded sovereignty. Of course he has, by the very act of opting Ireland into this pact he concedes that point.

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach is happy not alone to be incompetent in his role but he goes a step further and hands those decisions away to people in Brussels. We think that is wrong. We have consistently argued that is the wrong approach.

Let me tell the Taoiseach that he is in geographic denial as well. This country is still partitioned and the Taoiseach has not secured an agreement with Britain.

The time is up, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to respond. Deputy McDonald, the Taoiseach is to respond.

What way is the wind blowing?

That is a dangerous, dangerous place to walk us into.

Respect the Chair. I call Taoiseach.

I must say one more time to the Deputy that the pact and the Act the Minister introduced does not, in any shape of form, give up our sovereignty in the area of immigration.

That is a contradiction in terms.

Irish officials will still make-----

That is a contradiction in terms.

Deputy McDonald cannot even give a specific reason or area where we do. She has had four and a half minutes and it has been sound bite after sound bite with no substance behind it. The bottom line is that Irish officials will still make the decisions in terms of applicants. The Garda Síochána will still police our borders. Ireland will still be in control our deportation process.

Until Brussels says otherwise. That is the point of conceding competence.

To be fair to the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, he has brought in and is very focused on a firm, robust migration system with much faster times in terms of administration of the initial phase of the applications and on the appeal phase to get it done much faster. That is what we are doing.

You are going the wrong direction.

We have also increased the number of deportation orders quite significantly over the past while. The importance of this is that it enables us to return migrants back to countries where they probably originated with their applications.

That is important. That makes sense. Likewise, on the common travel area, it will be here long after any scenarios on the constitutionality of the island or whatever. The Deputy knows that.

The time is up.