Rwanda Act human rights judgment
Ivana Bacik raised a Belfast High Court judgment on the UK's Rwanda legislation and asked where the promised emergency legislation was. The Taoiseach said the legislation would come later in the month and that the Government was studying the judgment carefully.
Yesterday, the high court in Belfast made a ruling that parts of the Tories' Rwanda Act cannot be applied in Northern Ireland as they undermine human rights protections under the post-Brexit Windsor Framework and, indeed, that some parts are also incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR. The judgment is under appeal but it confirms the concerns Deputy Ó Ríordáin and I in this House, and the British Labour Party MP, Stella Creasy, in Westminster, have been raising for some months. Our concerns were that the Rwanda Act would undermine the equivalence of human rights protections under the Good Friday Agreement. We have been repeatedly raising these issues.
Now that the judgment has been handed down, how does the Taoiseach propose to deal with the issues it raises? The Minister for Finance said earlier that Ireland would address concerns at political and diplomatic level with the British Government. How does the Taoiseach propose to follow up on the matter? Has he received legal advice from the Attorney General on whether the Government, as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, can still designate the UK as a safe country?
Comment on this
Where is the emergency legislation on this that was promised by the Minister for Justice two weeks ago?
Comment on this
The timeline for that legislation remains as was, namely, later this month. I thank the Bacik for raising this important matter. I note the judgment delivered by Mr. Justice Humphreys yesterday in the Northern Ireland High Court, which found that certain provisions of the UK's Illegal Migration Act 2023 are incompatible with the Windsor Framework and the ECHR. We are studying the judgment carefully. The Attorney General is studying it on behalf of the Government. The judgment disapplies the provisions of the 2023 Act in Northern Ireland. It is important to recall that the legislation that determines the status of the Windsor Framework in regard to other UK laws was voted on and accepted by the UK Houses of Parliament. I understand the UK Government is likely to appeal the decision and, therefore, it is not appropriate for me to comment further at this time. We are studying the judgment.