Treatment of asylum seekers and minority report to dominate short political week

Politicians return to Leinster House today after a one-week recess during which Ministers decamped to a plethora of major global cities to push the annual St Patrick’s Day programme of events.

Don’t get too used to seeing their faces though, as there are only two sitting days scheduled for today and tomorrow before the start of a two-week recess.

Today, Opposition politicians will push for a questions and answers session with Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman in relation to the situation that has unfolded at Mount Street in Dublin in the last 10 or so days.

Towards the end of last year, after the Government announced it could no longer accommodate all single male international protection applicants, a makeshift encampment of more than 100 tents was pitched near the International Protection Office building on Mount Street. Last week, media scrutiny intensified around the deteriorating conditions in the camp, and by last Saturday morning, the men were being relocated.

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They were brought by coach to Crooksling, an empty facility in southwest Dublin, where they were given new tents to pitch in the surrounding grounds. Within days, some of the homeless male international protection applicants had returned to the city centre, with new tents appearing at Mount Street again.

Some of the asylum seekers described the site at Crooksling as “miserable” and “bitterly cold”.

The issue goes to the heart of the charge levelled against the Government by Opposition parties that it does not seem to have a convincing long-term immigration plan and is reactive rather than proactive. The situation at Mount Street, and indeed the wider homelessness issue, continues to cast an unflattering light on the Coalition.

As Jade Wilson and Martin Wall report, two protests took place outside Government Buildings in Dublin on Tuesday with those involved calling for better treatment of the asylum seekers.

Here’s the Irish Times view: There is no doubt that the tents, which are located in the heart of the city’s business district, are a political embarrassment as well as a humanitarian failure.

Is the annual budget about to become a four-year affair?

Ministers gather today for the weekly Cabinet meeting with no shortage of topics to ruminate on, not least the overwhelming defeats in the family and care referendums.

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath also has a memo up which could see the budgetary process overhauled, as Jack Horgan-Jones reports.

Under EU plans, countries will now be asked to produce specific medium-term budgetary plans, with each member state having to publish a four- or five-year plan setting out net spending plans for the years ahead. Once those plans are endorsed by the European Council, the rules envisage that countries will not be able to deviate from them over their lifespan - depending on the length of a country’s parliament staying in place.

If a new government is elected in that period, there is flexibility to adopt a new budget plan. Flying a budget kite is about to become a lot more interesting.

Setting sail from Fine Gael: Varadkar’s woes intensify

Ciarán Cannon has announced that he will not contest the next general election, making him the 11th Fine Gael TD from the 2020 crop to step out when the country next goes to the polls.

At Pat Leahy notes, the latest departure adds to a growing unease in Fine Gael. He writes that while it is true that the party has “a crop of promising replacements” waiting in the wings, “there is no escaping the unease now current in the party about its future, its prospects and – sometimes – its leader”.

Read Pat’s analysis piece in full here and then here is a news report where Cannon speaks of the “toxicity” of modern politics.

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Playbook

In the Dáil, the political day will run from 2pm until 10pm with Leaders’ Questions, Taoiseach’s Questions and Topical Issues all up as well as statements before this week’s European Council meeting.

In the Seanad, it’s a short day running from midday to 4.30pm. One of the main pieces of business is consideration of The Court Proceedings Bill, which provides for statutory compensation for breach of the right to a hearing within a reasonable time in both civil and criminal matters.

There’s plenty happening inside and outside the committee rooms today.

Jack Horgan-Jones reports on how a row has broken out between members of the special Oireachtas committee on assisted dying with the chair Michael Healy-Rae accused of seeking to “undermine” its final report on the eve of its publication. He wrote to TDs and Senators saying he would launch a minority report following the publication of the final report today. Mr Healy-Rae said he wanted as a courtesy to inform them that he would be presenting a “set of minority recommendations” on behalf of the three committee members who dissented from the final report, which recommended legislating for assisted dying.

HSE chief Bernard Gloster is set to appear before the Oireachtas committee on health. He will tell politicians of plans to recruit thousands of extra staff in the health service despite the ongoing hiring freeze. He will also tell the committee that the health service now has its highest workforce to date and how even “at the height” of the recruitment pause last December, the number of employees grew by 933.

Sinn Féin’s Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill, 2023, will be discussed at the committee on finance. This would compel the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to divest itself of all current assets and stop future investments in any of the entities included in a United Nations database of companies operating in the settlements. Officials are set to raise concerns about certain aspects of the legislation, such as the plans to use the UN database in proposed legislation.

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