The implementation by Ireland of parts of the Schengen Agreement will foster the smuggling of immigrants, writes Patricia McKenna.
Sweeping EU provisions on border controls have come into force in Ireland since Monday, April 1st, following the Government's decision to sign up to parts of the Schengen Agreement. Ireland is the last EU member-state to take part in some aspects of this EU convention.
The Schengen Agreement was originally signed by France, Germany and the Benelux countries in 1985 and was hailed as the end of all border controls for people travelling between these countries. In fact, the Schengen Agreement systematically regulates border controls between EU countries in an unprecedented manner and is set to become a major legal instrument in the EU-wide fight against illegal immigration.
The Government's Immigration Bill, 2002, published last month, will actually allow Ireland to actively participate in this task and is enforcing key provisions of the Schengen Agreement on carrier sanctions (Article 26 and 27).
In its recent presentation on the convention to the Justice and Home Affairs Dáil Committee, the Department of Justice stated: "Our application [to take part in the Schengen Agreement] covers an extensive range of areas, including carriers' liability, trafficking penalties, police co-operation, mutual assistance in criminal matters, extradition, drug-trafficking and the Schengen Information System (SIS)".
Everybody remembers the harrowing find in Wexford harbour last December of eight dead stowaways who suffocated on their journey at the back of a container truck. The passing of the Immigration Bill will lead to more deaths of this kind. In fact, one of the Kurdish survivors of the Wexford tragedy, Eyup Isik, said so at a press conference called by seven human rights organisations last month and he called on the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, to drop the carrier sanctions.
Harsher legislation and increased border controls will in fact drive more asylum-seekers into the arms of smugglers, and this type of sweeping, indiscriminate proposal is bound to deny genuine asylum-seekers access to safety.
This Bill makes it an offence to carry someone with an invalid passport, and the "carrier" found guilty of this offence is liable to a maximum fine of €3,000.
It is an internationally recognised fact that many asylum-seekers must carry fake IDs in order to flee persecution in their native country. There is no humanitarian clause in this Bill to enable potential asylum-seekers to state their case safely and exercise their right to seek asylum under international law.
The Minister is hiding behind the Schengen Agreement to justify the implementation of this profoundly reactionary and counterproductive legislative proposal. Ireland did not have to endorse this part of the agreement. In fact, the proposal was rushed through the Dáil last February without any proper debate and sanctioned at the EU Council of Justice Ministers last month.
Nowhere has it been discussed in the press, and my attempts at raising it in the media have been sadly ignored.
The record of this Government on asylum policy is appalling: it is a litany of backward, oppressive measures such as direct provision and bilateral deportation agreements with Bulgaria, Poland and Nigeria, among other states, which were passed last week in the Dáil.
It could be argued that this State is breaching the Geneva Convention on many grounds. It is ironic that two days after the Wexford tragedy, Mr O'Donoghue actually cancelled a trip to attend a landmark UN meeting bolstering support for the thorough implementation of this international agreement enshrining the rights of asylum-seekers.
It appears that the tragic events of September 11th are being used as an excuse in the EU to implement more stringent border controls for third-country nationals, but there are no compensatory provisions to facilitate asylum-seekers who wish to access EU borders to seek refuge.
This deeply worrying legal vacuum will ensure that smugglers keep exploiting asylum-seekers who have no other means of escape but to risk their lives as illegal cargo on a deadly journey. The Immigration Bill has just completed Seanad stage and is to be discussed and debated in the Dáil on an as yet unscheduled date. It is essential that this Bill is withdrawn.
Patricia McKenna MEP is Green Party spokeswoman on justice