Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

For example, just over 5,000 people have applied so far this year and we are coming to the end of April. We know that more than 50% of those are secondary movements. At the moment, we do not have an effective system of returns. The Dublin III Regulation is not working. If we were to be in the migration pact where we would have more effective systems of returns, we could have half of those numbers whereby we would be able to issue a take-back order and where a significant number of those people would have already been processed in another member state. It means they would spend less time in Ireland and less time in accommodation, again freeing up accommodation potentially for others or meaning we would require less accommodation than we do now. We are looking at the figures we have now without applying the faster processing, the better returns mechanism and a uniform approach across the EU. It could be the case that if we do not apply all of these new measures, we would be seen as a country that would be of greater benefit for people to come to. We could actually see an increase in people coming here because they might think they would not be processed as quickly or that we cannot return them to other countries. We have to look at it in the context of what the figures are now and if we were to apply the new systems, how that would potentially impact the overall figures. More than 5,000 people have applied for international protection this year and if half of those are secondary movements, the impact this new system would have on those figures can be seen.