The new Immigration Residency and Protection Bill introduced by the Minister for Justice today contains serious flaws, says the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland (MRIC)
MRIC director Siobhán O'Donoghue said "According to the Bill the Minister has the power to summarily deport a person from Ireland without any right to appeal and that is shocking."
She called on the Minister to include provision within the Bill for an independent appeals body for all immigration and asylum-related applications.
"The Bill also lacks adequate protections for the most vulnerable, such as those who have become undocumented through workplace exploitation and those who are victims of trafficking," she added.
Denise Charlton of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) said although she is happy at the attempt to reform the immigration system, she felt the new Bill will not reach commitments contained in the programme for Government and that the rules within it are not clear.
Ms Charlton also said the Bill does not contain an opportunity for independent review of failed asylum cases, and that she would like to see further provisions for family reunification.
She added that the ICI would be working closely with the Government as the Bill goes through the Oireachtas to ensure some of the measures are ironed out.
Fine Gael's immigration and integration spokesman Denis Naughten said the new Bill will "make it even harder for Irish citizens to marry non-EU nationals and bring their spouses into the country".
"I welcome proposals in the Immigration Bill to speed up the processing of asylum claims and to ensure that legitimate migrants are able to move to Ireland and contribute to economic growth. However, Minister Lenihan has failed to address a ridiculous and unfair ruling which discriminates against the non-EU spouses of Irish citizens who want to live in this country."
Labour Party justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said that, from an initial reading of the Billl, it is not apparent that the pledge to put Ireland's immigration policy on a statutory basis has been delivered.
"Far from expressing in law what precisely are the rights, entitlements and expectations of migrants from outside the EEA, the Bill appears to be giving the Minister the power to regulate inward migration," he said.
"The Labour Party will carefully study the provisions of the Bill and we will not make any rushed judgment on its contents."
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Aengus ÓSnodaigh said that unless the Bill reverses the "substantial amount of damage"contained in the 2007 Bill then this will be a "wasted opportunity to comprehensively reform outdated and inadequate legislation".
"This is a very lengthy piece of legislation that will require careful scrutiny and debate, particularly in view of the shortcomings of its previous incarnation. I welcome its long-awaited publication and will be looking very closely to see if the serious concerns raised with regard to the 2007 Bill have been addressed and if the many very constructive submissions made on the Bill have been utilised," he said.