EU “lurching to the right” with EU Migration Pact, says Gannon

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon has said that the EU Migration Pact is a “retrograde step for migrants’ rights in Ireland and across Europe.”

The Dublin Central TD said “I have major concerns about this pact, not least the real risk that we will see children detained in Ireland while their applications are being processed.”

“The prospect of children being detained is not scaremongering. It is something that is specifically enabled by this new legislation – and it is a shameful and retrograde step,” the Soc Dems justice spokesperson asid.

“There are also major question marks about the dilution of the right to legal aid, oral appeals, and family reunification as part of these new procedures,” he noted.

“Everyone agrees that temporary protection applications should be dealt with efficiently and speedily – but the manner in which we treat migrants should remain humane,” he said of the new EU legislation.

“The EU migration pact conflates cruelty with efficiency, treating temporary protection and asylum applicants as problems to be managed quickly rather than human beings appealing for help,” Gannon stated.

Gannon noted that Ireland had an opt out and didn’t have to sign up to every aspect of the migration pact and believes that the government made the “wrong decision” by signing up to it.

What’s the story with the EU Migration Pact?

He said the measures are “arbitrary, cruel and unnecessary.”

“Temporary protection and asylum applicants are not criminals and it is outrageous that the Minister for Justice has refused to rule out detaining applicants, including children,” Gannon claimed.

“I am also hugely concerned about plans that are now gathering pace across Europe, to set up so-called return hubs – which are detention facilities outside the EU which will be used as part of the deportation process,” he warned.

“This will mean the EU sending vulnerable people to countries that do not share the supposed human rights concerns and obligations that EU countries have.”

Gannon added, “there are also proposals for temporary protection and asylum claims to be processed in these hubs, which means EU countries out-sourcing their responsibilities to assess claims to countries with poor human rights records.

“The migration pact is part of a lurch to the right across Europe, which has been accompanied by a vilification of migrants,” he said.

“The EU should be defending the rights of migrants, not undermining them, and ensuring resources are put towards the efficient, fair and humane assessment of claims – rather than detention and third-country hubs.”