Campaigns 
Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill
Friday, 03 September 2010
ICI Chief Executive Denise Charlton is interviewed outside the Dáil when the Directors and CEOs of NGOs working in the immigration sector presented letters to TDs outlining their concerns with the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill on Wednesday October 6, 2010.
The Government published the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill in July 2010. This is the third version of immigration legislation to have been published by the Government since it began the process of reforming Ireland’s immigration laws in 2002.
The ICI believes the Bill provides an ideal opportunity to comprehensively reform Ireland’s outdated and inadequate immigration legislation. However, we believe the Bill, as published, missed this opportunity and that problems inherent in the current immigration system are not adequately addressed or resolved. In fact, the legislation will have no impact on about 80 per cent of the 10,000 enquiries dealt with by our Information and Referral Service each year.
The ICI has devoted considerable resources to analysing the various versions of the Bill and proposing detailed amendments to make Ireland’s immigration legislation fairer, clear and more efficient.
Our most serious concerns about the 2010 Bill fall into four main areas:
- the failure to establish an independent appeals tribunal for immigration-related decisions (see our Access to Justice campaign page);
- the failure to set out clear immigration rules in primary legislation, with regulations to be used to flesh out the legislation;
- provision for summary removals;
- sections of the Bill which are unconstitutional or in breach of Ireland’s international human rights obligations.
For a detailed analysis of these and other concerns in relation to the legislation, see our submissions: