Legislation
Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Editor
The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill is the first piece of legislation to bring together the issue of economic migration to Ireland and the asylum process.
It involves the repeal and replacement of the 1935 Aliens Act and the Immigration Acts of 1999, 2003 and 2004, the latter three piecemeal responses to the unexpected rise in the numbers of people from outside the EU seeking to migrate to Ireland in the late 1990s.
Many of them came through the work permit scheme, where they obtained work from an employer prior to entering the State, who then got a work permit for them. The immigrant could apply for a residence permit, but that was dependent on the work permit, tied to a specific employer, and the system was criticised as amounting, in some cases, to bonded labour. Work permits are not referred to in the Bill, but the system of residence permits is greatly enhanced.
The trickle of asylum-seekers in the early 1990s swelled to thousands annually as the economy grew, and people fleeing war and persecution in various conflict zones around the world combined with those wanting to work here, but unable to avail of the work permit system. This led to the asylum-processing system being stretched to the limit. Despite this, and the concern it generated, asylum-seekers never numbered more than 10 per cent of the total number of the non-EU nationals coming here.
The asylum process could be a long-drawn-out one, initially due to the numbers involved and the inevitable waiting lists. It also provided for an initial application, an appeal if it was unsuccessful, and then an application for permission to remain on other grounds, including humanitarian. The procedures followed during the process could also be challenged in the High Court by way of judicial review.
The new Bill provides for a telescoped application where all possible grounds for permission to stay in Ireland for those seeking protection are examined at the same time, and a negative decision can be appealed to another body. But it seeks to cut down on the volume of time spent on judicial reviews, by imposing strict conditions on the time limits and grounds for bringing them, and allows people to be deported while the proceedings are awaited. Controversially, the Bill also states that lawyers can be made liable for the costs of bringing reviews that "are frivolous or vexatious".
The Bill also provides for a period of "recovery and reflection" for victims of trafficking of 45 days, or longer if necessary, to allow them to recover and assist the Garda Siochána in investigating the traffickers.