Deputy Mattie McGrath spoke on 26 June 2024 opposing Ireland's opt-in to the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, arguing it would transfer sovereignty and deny judicial scrutiny. He said the Dáil is rushing the vote, described the move as morally reprehensible, and warned it could be the "greatest ever betrayal" of the Irish people.
Main objections
McGrath argued the government's stance that the EU will take care of Ireland on migration is "naive" and that Ireland can act independently on many measures. He criticised voting on the pact as a whole after separate debates in the EU, questioned the rush to vote in the Chamber, and invoked the Lisbon Treaty as not having authorised such a transfer of powers in his view.
Constitutional and legal concerns
He raised Article 29.4.7 and protocol 21 and said those provisions do not remove members' fiduciary duty or moral responsibility to ensure measures affecting the people undergo judicial scrutiny. McGrath said denying a referendum and court testing of the pact's constitutionality would be negligent and morally reprehensible.
Sovereignty implications
McGrath warned the pact would involve a single transfer of sovereignty - "the biggest transfer of our sovereignty in the history of our state" - and argued that opting in would be irreversible. He said clause 2846 of the constitution would apply and that the measures could never be tested by the courts thereafter.
Government response and implementation plans
The minister responded that the pact would be a "game-changer" by speeding processing, making returns easier, and strengthening security checks, while insisting the EU would not make decisions for Ireland. The minister said Ireland cannot manage migration alone and listed steps already under way - increased processing in the IPO, accelerated processing for designated safe countries, falls in applications and arrivals without documents, visa controls and airline enforcement reviews.
Legislative process and further scrutiny
The minister said if the opt-in is approved, the minister will prepare a general scheme to replace the International Protection Act 2015 and launch an implementation plan. That scheme would go through pre-legislative scrutiny and then through both houses of the Oireachtas, with opportunities for further views, and extra speaking time has been allocated for the debate in the Dáil and the Shannad.
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Minister, I want to also, on behalf of the Rural Independence, pay tribute to the late Tommy Gorman, wonderful journalist, wonderful person, and indeed he visited Tipperary, the Secretary of Friends Cancer Care, gave up his time there only some months ago, and was in my own parish some weeks ago as well, wonderful man, and he likes to never ever lay hay down a reach. Minister, the response of your government and TD is that the EU will take care of us and that we cannot go it alone in relation to the migration issue, is naive in the extreme. There are lots of measures the Ireland can take independently, and people do not realise that the EU is part of the problem. It is fundamentally undemocratic to vote a pact as a whole, when each measure was voted on and debated separately in the EU, indeed, for a period of 10 years. As I said, why the indecent taste? Why is there rush? There is no time limit on voting on this pact, so why do we rush to vote tonight here in the Chamber after so little scrutiny? I do not believe this is what the Irish people voted for in the Lisbon Treaty back all those years ago, namely that the government, with a whip, with a mandate, would use such measures as the whip to usher in the migration pact 15 years later, which will bring about a life-altering situation for the Irish people without resource to either judicial scrutiny or another referendum so that the people can vote on. Article 29.4.7 of a constitution which authorises the Ruxus to vote in this measure under protocol 21 does not absolve any member of this House of the Ruxus from their fiduciary duty or indeed moral responsibility to the people of Ireland to ensure that any and all such measures which affect the people will have had the benefit of judicial scrutiny and are an opportunity to vote in a referendum on this issue. It is morally reprehensible, I believe, and negligent of all such members of the House to vote in this pact in such circumstances and, by so doing, deny the opportunity to the Irish people to have the constitutionality of this pact tested by the courts. This is not what the Irish people voted for in Lisbon by a long shot. This pact will involve the single transfer of our sovereignty, the biggest transfer of our sovereignty in the history of our state. To give that away in a simple vote without any scrutiny or consideration of the constitutional implications will go down in the history of the state as the greatest ever betrayal of the Irish people by their own members of parliament. If this migration pact is voted in and we opt into this pact, we can never opt out. Thereafter, because the necessary obligations in clause 2846 of a constitution will apply, and these measures can never be tested by the courts, and our fate is set. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Deputy, for raising this. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum will be a game-changer for Ireland. It will speed up the processing of asylum seekers so that we have a firmer and a fairer system. It will make it easier to return those who are found not to be entitled to protection. It will introduce greater security checking of applicants. Ireland cannot do this on its own. We need cooperation and we need other countries to be willing to accept people who should not be processed here. It does not mean that the EU will make the decisions for us. This pact offers us all in Europe a real opportunity to work together to design a system that is firm but fair, based on a fair sharing of responsibility that works for everyone. We are not waiting for the pact to take effect to make changes. A significant increase in processing in the IPO. There is accelerated processing for designated safe countries, with eight further countries under review. That has reduced applications by 50 per cent from those countries. Steps to reduce the numbers arriving without documents are down by 34 per cent. The review of airline fines are underway, and plane doorstep operations are underway. We have introduced visa controls on a number of additional countries, with further countries under review. We have increased the focus on assisting people to leave. The Dáil and the Shannad are fully debating approving Ireland's request to opt into the pact. I have to say that extra speaking time has been allocated for this week. If approved, Minister McEntee will start to prepare the general scheme of new legislation to replace the International Protection Act 2015, and an implementation plan will be launched. Then, when that new scheme is complete and is prepared, that will go through all the houses of the Oireachtas. It will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. It will then go through the houses of the Dáil and then through the Shannad. There will be loads more opportunity for people to give their views on it. Can I just say, Deputy, that you referred to our health service. You well know and I well know that our health service would not operate without migration into this country. We benefit every day from people who come to work in this country. Migration plays an essential role in our society and our economy. We have a rules-based immigration system that is both firm and fair, and it is vital to ensure the integrity of that system, and that it is robust enough to cope with complex and fast-changing migratory patterns. That pact will do just that. Thank you. I do acknowledge the wonderful service that nurses and doctors and all kinds of specialties give. I have been beneficiary myself of that, but you are trying to distract again. I have never mentioned it today. Minister, the people voted in 2009, Lisbon, and they did not vote for this. That is one thing sure and certain. So your government has grand regard for actions of the constitution, or the people's decision as far as I am concerned. And why are we rushing this? You said there will be legislation. Yes, but we both opt into this tonight. We can never opt out. That is as clear as the noise on our faces. We can never opt out. So you are denying – you are talking about debate. There was no debate in this House. There were statements. There were no questions. No questions and answers. None. And no proper scrutiny. One meeting of the committee where the minister was unable to answer any questions. And that day I was there myself. And then the next meeting of the committee, kind of an add-on, brought in all the NGOs to wheel them out and tell us what we were not doing right. The people who are running this country now are the NGOs. But this, in fact, is a total betrayal of the people of Ireland. To vote this in by the Soroxas without going to the people, or having a test in the High Court, and I couldn't emphasize that strong enough. Surely it is such a serious issue that took ten years in the EU, and we are going to vote here after three or four days of debate, without any questions and answers, as I said, or any scrutiny. That is bad lawmaking, and it is bad for our people, and it is ceding majorly our sovereignty. And that is literally, in my opinion, shameful and criminal. Thank you. Thank you, Cancola. Deputy, there were six hours in committee on this debate, on the EU Migration and Asylum Pact. Six hours in committee. And, yeah, there was. Six hours in committee. And believe it or not, you must have known, but they ran out of speakers. I understand. And all the speaking time was given here. There was extra speaking time allocated last week. If I remember, we had a vote on. I think you voted against that. Extra time. So, I think so. I think so. So, there was open-ended time yesterday. So, there has been ample time to discuss this. There has been ample time. And, as I said to you earlier, the legislation, when it is ready to go through the Houses, there will be more than sufficient time then too, because you will be able to go to pre-leg scrutiny. Then you will be able to have second stage. Then you will have committee stage. Then you will have report stage in the Dáil. And then you will have final stage. And then, when you have finished all that, you can go to the Shannard. Well, you can't go to the Shannard, but there will be an opportunity for the Shannard to debate. So, there is a lot of time there, Deputy. I don't know. Thank you. No, no, no, please, Minister, without interruption. That concludes...
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