‘Lack of scrutiny’ of international-protection bill
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has criticised the guillotining of a bill on international protection in the Dáil earlier this week.
The human-rights body said that the move meant that the International Protection Bill 2026 would proceed to the Seanad without full consideration of the proposed amendments.
IHREC said that, during eight hours of debate last week, only 14 of around 300 amendments were discussed, adding that third-stage proceedings were taken on the floor of the Dáil rather than in committee, meaning that there was no line-by-line scrutiny of the bill.
It said that on Wednesday night (25 February) the bill was guillotined after reaching amendment 22, after four hours of discussion.
‘No meaningful engagement’
“As a result, there was no meaningful engagement with the amendments, and the vast majority were not debated at all,” IHREC said in a statement.
It said that the amendments that had not been discussed included proposals aimed at preventing the unlawful detention of children. ensuring that invasive medical examinations to determine a child’s age were conducted by appropriately qualified medical professionals, and strengthening protections for victims of trafficking.
The commission had previously published a list of proposed amendments aimed at addressing areas where it believes the bill risks failing to comply with Ireland’s obligations under national and international human-rights and equality law.
Chief commissioner Liam Herrick described the guillotining of the bill as “a significant missed opportunity” to ensure that Ireland’s international-protection system fully respected fundamental rights.
“The commission reiterates that robust parliamentary scrutiny is essential where legislation affects people in situations of acute vulnerability and where fundamental rights are engaged,” he added.