Speaking on the Government’s new international protection legislation in the Dáil, Paul Murphy said:
“I cannot remember the last time a government brought forward a Bill that was so universally condemned by human rights organisations.
“The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has said there are 'substantial gaps and ambiguities ... [in the Bill] in areas that directly affect the rights and safety of ... vulnerable applicants such as children and victims of trafficking'.
“The civil society Coalition on the EU Migration Pact is made up of organisations like the Irish Refugee Council, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, LGBT Ireland and the Irish Network Against Racism, and it has said, 'This legislation will be a stain on Ireland’s international reputation, and it undermines the very core of what being Irish means'.
“Everyone out there should know that in this Bill, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and your friendly, local, right-wing Independent TD are all legislating for the detention of children. Shame on them all!
“It should not take human rights organisations to tell us detention is never, under any circumstances, in the best interests of innocent children, but the human rights organisations are forced to scream this and still the Government does not care.
“The Government shamefully put its name to a statement led by Denmark before Christmas requesting the application of the European Convention on Human Rights to migrants be reviewed.
“In other words, these human rights are not human rights at all but will be selectively applied rights. The changes demanded here are so far-reaching that it is not really a review of the application of the convention that is being demanded but the wholesale disapplication of human rights to migrants.
“The socialist Tony Benn famously pointed out the way a government treats refugees is an indication of how it would treat the rest of us if it thought it could get away with it.
“That is precisely what is indicated by this Bill. It is a frontal assault on human rights. In this case, it starts with asylum seekers, including young children, but if we tolerate this, our children will be next.
“The Bill introduces a new system of border detention to be imposed even on the children of international protection applicants. It should go without saying that children do not deserve to be treated like criminals simply for exercising their human right and legal right to apply for asylum.
“The Bill also fundamentally undermines the right to legal representation by providing only for access to so-called legal counselling. What 'legal counselling' means, we do not know. It is not defined by the Bill, but we do know for certain that it does not mean access to proper legal representation because the Bill clearly does not provide for that.
“It imposes a series of much tighter legal timeframes without providing the resources for them to be met. It is no wonder that the Legal Aid Board is raising the alarm about its ability to cope.
“This apparent negligence is, of course, deliberate. The Government is on purpose creating a system that will not be fair in order to deport as many international protection applicants as possible, as quickly as possible and to hell with the consequences."