A High Court ruling declaring a section of the Immigration Act of 1999 to be unconstitutional has provided an important warning that governments should avoid legislative short cuts in responding to specific political and administrative pressures.
The timing of the judgment, as EU ministers met at Dublin Castle to consider issues of asylum and immigration, was apt. For, while the Amsterdam Treaty has set May 1st as the date for adoption of a common EU approach to issues of asylum and the treatment of refugees, it is vital that any resolution of these matters should be carefully considered and be humane and just.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has sought the advice of the Attorney General, Mr Brady, on whether the High Court judgment should be appealed, or new legislation introduced. On the face of it, the simplest and most direct route would be by way of legislation, now that an attempt to treat ministerial orders as primary legislation has been struck down.
The court ruling has implications for Garda control of the movement of illegal immigrants; the production of identification papers and for some pending prosecutions. In fact, an Albanian-Kosovan man was unconditionally released from prison yesterday. And other cases are expected to follow. Our asylum legislation and deportation laws will not, however, be affected.
The informal two-day meeting of EU ministers for justice has reported good progress in agreeing co-operation on the return of illegal immigrants to their countries of origin. And a fund of €30 million was established to finance repatriation programmes and joint flights. Significant differences remained, however, on the establishment of minimum standards of procedures for the treatment of refugees and the granting of asylum status.
The Irish presidency will now prepare a new text to reflect the outcome of those discussions. These and other matters will be discussed during the course of four formal, decision-making sessions in Brussels, beginning next month.
Concern was expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Ruud Lubbers, that the rights of asylum-seekers might not be properly protected under new arrangements and he suggested the terms of the Geneva Convention should underpin any such measures. In particular, he urged that financial assistance be offered to those new member-states most likely to experience an influx of refugees as EU borders were extended eastward. And he attributed a 16 per cent decline in the number of people seeking asylum in the industrialised world to the work of his agency in refugee-producing countries.
Few people would argue against a need for the EU to control inward migration. But rather than concentrating primarily on developing the sinews of a "Fortress Europe", EU governments should seek a broader solution by providing greater assistance for the economic development of these regions.