Amendments Nos. 121 and 122 are related to amendment No. 119, amendment No. 120 is an alternative to amendment No. 119 and amendment No. 123 is an alternative to amendments Nos. 120 and 122. The amendments will be taken together by agreement.
SECTION 24.
Amendment No. 118 not moved.
Section 24 agreed to.
Sections 25 to 30, inclusive, agreed to.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
I move amendment No. 119:
In page 26, paragraph 1, line 22, after "appointment" to insert "and shall be conversant with and experienced in Refugee Law and International Human Rights Law".
This can be disposed of briefly. It is necessary that the commissioner would be somebody who had experience of and be conversant with refugee and international human rights law. It is also desirable that the members of the Refugee Appeal Board would be demonstrably independent, have sufficient training and be conversant with refugee and international human rights law. I accept that the amendments are some-what general in their approach——
They could apply to people seeking to become advisers or programme managers.
The only well paid politicians in the country.
As advertised in Iris Fianna Fáil.
"Forum" is the magazine if one wishes to advertise a vacancy and be guaranteed applicants. In fact, one can be guaranteed success even before one applies.
It is obvious that regulations are needed to implement this and I am open to the Minister coming forward with proposals to ensure the people concerned are conversant with and experienced in refugee and international human rights law. I am sure the Minister agrees with these sentiments.
My amendments are self-explanatory.
The commissioner must be a practising barrister or solicitor for at least seven years while the chairman of the appeal board must have ten years such experience. I would be surprised if they were not able to access and acquire the specifics of refugee law, if they did not already have this knowledge. The UNHCR has been helpful to us with regard to assisting training relating to the refugee application process and we plan to continue this relationship.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Amendment No. 120 not moved.
First Schedule agreed to.
SECOND SCHEDULE.
Amendments Nos. 121 to 123, inclusive, not moved.
Second Schedule agreed to.
Third and Fourth Schedules agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Report of Select Committee.
I propose the following draft report:
The Select Committee has considered the Bill and has made amendments thereto. The Bill, as amended, is reported to the Dáil.
Report agreed to.
Ordered to Report to the Dáil accordingly.
I thank the party spokespersons and the Minister for the time and commitment they gave to this important Bill on which we had a lengthy and thorough debate. This is the first time the Minister has been in this committee during my chairmanship. Her replies were detailed. Although all queries may not have been answered to the satisfaction of the Opposition, her folder contains a large amount of detail. On every occasion the imparting of knowledge was positive. A number of amendments were withdrawn by Deputies in the likelihood that further consideration will be given to them between now and Report Stage and I look forward to discussing them again. We had a healthy debate and I thank all concerned.
The Select Committee adjourned at 2.5 p.m.