On behalf of the Rural Independent Group, I too want to pay tribute to the late Tommie Gorman. He was a wonderful journalist and wonderful person. He visited the Circle of Friends cancer care centre in Tipperary only months ago and gave up his time there. He was in my parish some weeks ago. He was a wonderful man. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

The response of the Government and TDs that the EU will take care of us and that we cannot go it alone on the migration issue is naive in the extreme. There are many measures that Ireland can take independently. People do not realise that the EU is part of the problem. It is fundamentally undemocratic to vote for a pact as a whole when each measure was voted on and debated separately in the EU for a period of ten years. Why the indecent haste? What is the rush? There is no time limit on voting on this pact, so why are we rushing to vote on it tonight in the Chamber after so little scrutiny? I do not believe this is what the Irish people voted for on the Lisbon treaty all those years ago. Some 15 years after that treaty, the Government is using such measures as the whip to usher in the migration pact, which will bring about a life-altering situation for the Irish people, without resort to either judicial scrutiny or another referendum so that the people can vote on it.

Article 29.4.7° of our Constitution authorises the Oireachtas to vote on this measure under Protocol No. 21. It does not absolve any Member of the Oireachtas from their fiduciary duty or indeed moral responsibility to the people of Ireland to ensure that any and all such measures which affect the people will have had the benefit of judicial scrutiny and-or an opportunity to vote in a referendum on this issue. I believe it is morally reprehensible and negligent of Members of the House to vote on this pact in such circumstances and by so doing, deny the opportunity to the Irish people to have the constitutionality of this pact tested by the courts.

This is not what the Irish people voted for in the context of the Lisbon treaty by a long shot. This pact will involve the biggest transfer of our sovereignty in the history of our State. To give that away in a simple vote without scrutiny or consideration of the constitutional implications will go down in the history of the State as the greatest ever betrayal of the Irish people by their own Members of Parliament. If this EU migration pact is voted in and we opt into this pact, we can never opt out thereafter because the necessitated obligations under Article 29.4.6° of our Constitution will apply and these measures can never be tested by the courts, and our fate is set.

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this matter. The EU pact on migration and asylum will be a game-changer for Ireland. It will speed up the processing of asylum seekers so that we have a firmer and fairer system. It will make it easier to return those who are found not to be entitled to protection. It will introduce greater security checking of applicants. Ireland cannot do this on its own. We need co-operation and we need other countries to be willing to accept people who should not be processed here. It does not mean that the EU will make the decisions for us. This pact offers us all in Europe a real opportunity to work together to design a system that is firm but fair, based on a fair sharing of responsibility that works for everyone.

We are not waiting for the pact to take effect to make changes. There is a significant increase in processing in the International Protection Office. There is accelerated processing for designated safe countries, with eight further countries under review. That has reduced applications from those countries by 50%. Steps have been taken to reduce the numbers arriving without documents and there has been a reduction of 34%. The review of airline fines is under way. Plane doorstep operations are under way. We have introduced visa controls on a number of additional countries, with further countries under review. We have increased the focus on assisting people to leave.

The Dáil and the Seanad are fully debating approving Ireland's request to opt into the pact. Extra speaking time has been allocated for this week. If approved, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will start to prepare the general scheme of new legislation to replace the International Protection Act 2015 and an implementation plan will be launched. When that new scheme is complete and prepared, that will go through both Houses of the Oireachtas. It will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny and then go through the Dáil and the Seanad. There will be plenty more opportunity for people to give their views on it.

The Deputy referred to our health service. The Deputy and I well know that our health service would not operate without migration into this country. We benefit every day-----

I did not mention it.

The Deputy mentioned it earlier. We benefit every day from people who come to work in this country. Migration plays an essential role in our society and economy. We have a rules-based immigration system that is both firm and fair. It is vital to ensure the integrity of that system and that it is robust enough to cope with complex and fast-changing migratory patterns. That pact will do just that.

I never mentioned the health service but I acknowledge the wonderful service that nurses, doctors and all kinds of specialists give. I have been a beneficiary of that myself, but the Minister is trying to distract me. I never mentioned it today.

The people voted on the Lisbon treaty in 2009. They did not vote for this. That is sure and certain. The Government has scant regard for articles of the Constitution or the people's decision, as far as I am concerned. Why are we rushing this? The Minister said there will be legislation, but if we vote to opt into this tonight, we can never opt out. It is as clear as the nose on our faces that we can never opt out. The Minister is talking about debate. There was no debate in this House. There were statements.

There was debate.

There was loads of debate.

There were no questions and answers and no proper scrutiny. There was one meeting of the committee, where the Minister was unable to answer any questions. I was there on that day. At the next meeting of the committee, as kind of an add-on, all the NGOs were brought in. They were wheeled out to tell us what we were not doing right.

The people who are running this country now are the NGOs. It is a total betrayal of the people of Ireland for the Oireachtas to vote this in without consulting them or testing it in the High Court. I cannot emphasise that strongly enough. This is such a serious issue that it took ten years for the EU to deal with, but we are going to vote it in after three or four days of debate without having any questions and answers, as I have said, or scrutiny. That is bad law-making. It is bad for our people. It is majorly ceding our sovereignty. In my opinion, it is shameful and criminal.

There were six hours of debate at the committee in respect of the EU pact on migration and asylum.

Six hours.

Yes, there were.

It took ten years in Europe.

Believe it or not, the Deputy must have known about this because I understand that the committee ran out of speakers. Speaking time was given here. Extra speaking time was allocated last week. If I remember correctly, we had a vote on allocating extra time. Deputy Mattie McGrath voted against that.

Yes.

I think so.

Of course I did.

There was an open-ended debate yesterday, so there has been ample time to discuss this.

When-----

As I said to the Deputy earlier, when the legislation is ready to go through the Houses, there will be more than sufficient time at that point too because he will be able to attend the pre-legislative scrutiny hearings.

It is too late to opt out.

Then there will be Second Stage, Committee Stage, Report Stage and Fifth Stage. When we are finished all that, the Deputy can go the Seanad.

Dress it up any way you like.

Well, the Deputy cannot go to the Seanad. However, there will be an opportunity for the Seanad to debate it.

Dress it up any way you like.

There is a lot of time there for the Deputy, so I do not know.

I would not like to see you at the fair. You would buy a pig in a poke.

That concludes Leaders' Questions for today, thanks be to God.