Government scraps plan to rush through Immigration Bill

The Government tonight abandoned plans to rush legislation through the Dáil aimed at closing a loophole in immigration law after opposition parties expressed their concerns.

Ammendments to the Immigration Bill were to be brought through the House tomorrow after a landmark High Court ruling last week deemed some parts of it unconstitutional. The Bill ill now be introduced in the Seanad on Friday and it will be debated in the Dáil next week.

The Labour Party's justice spokesman Mr Joe Costello said the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, had been "embarrassed by the Labour Party" into abandoning his plans. "It would have been an act of particular folly to force though a piece of legislation dealing with  such a complex area as immigration law and where the courts have been forced to act on a number of occasions to strike down unconstitutional measures," he added.

The High Court last week ruled against Section 2 of the 1999 Immigration Act in a decision with major implications for police control of the movements of non-nationals. Following the ruling, an Albanian-Kosovan man facing a charge of failing to satisfactorily produce registration documents was freed. Many more cases were expected to follow.

But on Friday the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said the Government would "bring in amending legislation and we want to get it right this time."

Earlier Mr Costello said the Labour Party would "strongly oppose" the amendments to the Bill if rushed through the Dáil.

The Green Party expressed "grave concern" at the content and timing of the Bill branding it a "shoddy and flawed proposal"

Justice Spokesperson Mr Ciarán Cuffe said: "It allows immigration officers to discriminate against non-nationals who suffer from a prescribed disease or disability.

"This is a slap in the face to disability groups awaiting the publication of the Disability Bill".

"It also allows the Government to refuse entry to the State to people who have been convicted of an offence that is illegal in countries other than Ireland. Under this proposal Nelson Mandela could be refused entry to Ireland".

Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh of Sinn Féin said a section of the Bill which allows immigration officers to refuse entry to non-nationals if they suffer from a disability was "absolutely offensive and totally unacceptable, yet typifies everything this that is wrong with this Government's approach to human and equalrights."

"Even a cursory glance at this Bill reveals serious issues regarding the legislation and its implications for human rights," he added.