European Commission confirms Ireland’s opt-in to 7 legislative measures of EU Asylum & Migration Pact

This week the European Commission confirmed Ireland’s opt-in to seven of the legislative measures in the EU Asylum and Migration Pact.

New legislation will be introduced to repeal and replace the International Protection Act 2015. This legislation will pass through the Dáil and the Seanad and will be subject to full debate and scrutiny in each house.

The legislative changes will provide for:

• the full repeal of the International Protection Act 2015
• legally binding timeframes for making decisions on international protection applications and appeals
• a greater focus on efficient returns for unsuccessful applicants
• accelerated processing including for those from safe countries, those with no or false documents, and those who have crossed borders illegally
• those who are processed under the border procedure will not be authorised to enter Ireland and will be accommodated at designated locations. Their applications, appeals and removal decisions must be processed within three months
• new dedicated accommodation for those who are being processed in the border procedure or who are due to be returned to another country
• a new solidarity mechanism requiring countries to either make a financial contribution to or agree to relocate some asylum seekers from countries facing particular pressures
• expansion of the categories of migrants who will be fingerprinted and checked against the Eurodac database

Minister McEntee said:

Accelerated processing was introduced in November 2022 and there has been a reduction of up to 70% in applications from the countries which are subject to accelerated processing.

Opting into the Pact provides a significant opportunity for Ireland to redesign the system for granting protection in line with European common standards.