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What is the EU Migration and Asylum Pact pact and why has it been so controversial?

Agreement is standardised immigration control system across member states including tougher borders and holding centres for migrants

At a European level, the pact has been opposed by left-wing politicians who felt it was a regressive step.
At a European level, the pact has been opposed by left-wing politicians who felt it was a regressive step.
Cormac McQuinn's picture
Cormac McQuinn Political Correspondent
Thu Jun 27 2024 - 15:37

Ireland is set to opt-in to the European Union’s controversial Migration and Asylum Pact after Dáil passed the proposal on Wednesday. But what is the pact, why is it controversial and how has the debate played out in Ireland?

What is the background of the Pact?

The EU has been struggling to respond to an unrelenting migration crisis since 2015. It came to a head at that time with people seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in makeshift vessels with many dying in the attempt.

Italy and Greece shouldered much of the responsibility for hosting people fleeing war and poverty in places like Syria and sub-Saharan Africa. EU negotiators reached an agreement on rules aimed at spreading the cost and responsibility for hosting asylum seekers across the EU last December. In April the European Parliament approved 10 Bills that made up the pact.

What does the pact do?

The pact is a standardised immigration control system across the 27 EU member states. There are to be tougher border security checks and a substantial increase in the number of staff processing applications and new accommodation centres. Migrants will be accommodated in holding centres close to airports and ports, which the Government here has insisted will not be detention centres.

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Asylum seekers’ applications are to be processed within a maximum of 12 weeks. If rejected, asylum seekers will be returned to their home country. Member states will be required, based on their population size, to take in thousands of migrants from “frontline” countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain, or provide funding instead.

Why is it controversial?

At a European level, the pact has been opposed by left-wing politicians who felt it was a regressive step, as well as those on the right who said it did not go far enough to stem the flow of asylum seekers. More than 160 organisations across Europe, including the likes of Amnesty International, have raised concerns about the pact. Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s EU office has said the policy would increase the number of people held in “detention” at Europe’s borders.

How has the debate played out in Ireland?

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said the Government’s failure to opt out of any aspect of the pact is a “dangerous erosion” of Irish sovereignty. Labour leader Ivana Bacik said there should be a united approach in the EU to migration but the pact does not deliver on solidarity with the global south. Holly Cairns, the Social Democrats leader, said individual aspects of the pact are worth opting into but her party had “very serious human rights concerns” with the overall agreement.

The Rural Independents had called for a referendum and Mattie McGrath has since argued that “handing over” power on immigration to Brussels is “a thundering disgrace”. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has previously challenged Taoiseach Simon Harris on the cost of Ireland’s obligations under the pact.

And the Government’s view?

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the agreement “represents an important balance between effective asylum and return procedures and protections for those seeking protection”.

Mr Harris said Ireland will be one of the biggest beneficiaries as “so many people who come to Ireland seeking refuge come here from what are called secondary movements”, having first applied to another EU member state.

There are mechanisms to address this. In response to Mr Tóibín’s queries on costs, he said it was “not possible to put costings” on measures in the pact adding: “The dynamic effects are that Ireland will benefit in some ways and not in others.”