On 26 June 2024, both houses of the Oireachtas voted to opt into the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Dáil passed the motion by 79-72 votes.
What will this mean for Ireland?
As a result of this decision, Ireland will need to make significant changes to current asylum law, policy and procedures, including to the International Protection Act 2015. Of the ten Pact instruments, six EU regulations will automatically apply, and one EU directive will be transposed. Two regulations cannot be adopted due the fact that Ireland is not in the Schengen Area. One regulation has already been opted into and participation is underway (the Regulation Establishing a European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA)).
Ireland plans to opt into the Eurodac Regulation, which will expand Eurodac’s remit beyond its current use for asylum applicants and irregular migrants entering the state, to beneficiaries of temporary protection, irregular migrants already within the EU, stateless persons and rescued individuals. Ireland will also opt into the Asylum Procedures Regulation, which aims to streamline asylum, return and border procedures. Ireland already employs an accelerated procedure for certain applicants. This regulation will make an accelerated procedure compulsory for certain groups of people, including those who are a security risk, who come from a country with a low approval rate for asylum applicants, and those who are deemed to have misled authorities.
Other measures include: the Asylum and Migration Regulation, which will replace the Dublin III Regulation and which clarifies the conditions under which Member States are responsible for assessing asylum applications; the Asylum Qualification Regulation, which sets out conditions and timelines for asylum decisions; the Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation, which establishes a mandatory solidarity mechanism aimed at ensuring a fairer system of responsibility sharing across the EU, according to the Commission. Member States such as Ireland are provided with options relating to their contribution, which can take the form of financial contributions, relocations of asylum seekers from countries facing particular pressures, and alternative solidarity measures (such as deployment of personnel or measures focusing on capacity building).
Ireland will not opt into the Pre-Entry Screening Regulations or the Return Border Procedure Regulation, however the government has indicated that they will be aligned insofar as is possible in national law.
Reactions
The government has cited the Pact as being essential to a European-wide approach to migration and asylum. Others have referenced several of the Pact’s regulations as likely to lead to improvements in key procedural areas, including a fairer application process and better management of timelines. However, the Pact has faced significant opposition, particularly in relation to human rights concerns and a perceived disproportionate responsibility placed on non-EU border countries. The potential deterioration of standards in asylum procedures has also been raised, with NGO’s citing accelerated processing times as likely to result in inadequate safeguards, limited access to legal representation and possibly in conflict with the principal of non-refoulement, among other concerns.
What happens next?
The new EU asylum and migration rules established in the Pact entered into force on 11 June 2024 and following a two year implementation period will be in effect in Member States by 12 June 2026. All EU countries must now prepare national implementation plans to be completed by December 2024, as designated under the Common Implementation Plan.
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