The EU Asylum and Migration Pact will significantly reform the current approach to migration and asylum both in Ireland and across the EU by providing a robust legislative framework to address the challenges faced in this area.
These reforms will ensure Europe acts as a collective in terms of how migration, and in particular asylum, is managed to ensure the system is firmer and fairer. The Pact will allow significantly faster processing of international protection applications. The Pact will reduce the number of secondary movements and make it easier to transfer applicants to the Member State responsible. It will reduce the time people spend in state provided accommodation and allow for the return of those not entitled to protection. The overall aim here is to speed up the processing of asylum applications so that people in need of our protection get it quickly and those who don’t are returned to where they came from quickly and efficiently.
There is ongoing cooperation with the UK on both immigration and law enforcement matters. The Common Travel Area Forum (CTAF), established in 2011, acts as a steering committee for the ongoing work of protecting the CTA in relation to free movement of its citizens between both countries while at the same time ensuring that the CTA is not abused by those not entitled to avail of it. The Forum meets twice yearly but also meets in sub-group format to address particular elements of Ireland/UK co-operation, bringing together relevant subject matter expertise in various areas.
There is also very good co-operation at operational level between the Irish Border Management Unit (BMU), Garda National immigration Bureau (GNIB) and colleagues in the UK Border Force and Immigration Enforcement. This includes a number of ongoing operations, in co-operation with the UK, tackling abuses of the CTA by identifying illegal secondary movement patterns within the CTA and taking effective actions to disrupt abuse of those routes.
The Deputy will appreciate that the UK is not a participant in the EU Migration Pact. Implications for the Common Travel Area have, however, been examined and it is considered that the Pact will not have a negative impact on it. Ireland has already opted-into measures of the Common European Asylum System in the past and remains bound by them notwithstanding the UK’s departure from the European Union. Existing co-operation will not be affected.
I intend to meet the Home Secretary very shortly.
