Citywest example of ‘best practice’, EU Commissioner for Migration says

By Bairbre Holmes, PA

Citywest is an example of “best practice” when it comes to implementing incoming EU migration and asylum rules, the European Commissioner for Migration has said.

Speaking alongside Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan at Government Buildings in Dublin on Monday, Magnus Brunner said: “It is incredibly interesting for me to see how well prepared Ireland is.

“I really want to congratulate you there.

“It’s a sort of best practice we see here and I’m very happy to share that with colleagues in the rest of the European Union.”

The Citywest site has been used as a transit hub and accommodation for Ukrainians and International Protection Applicants since 2022 and is currently being used to house people being processed under the The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.

The pact is an agreement between states on the rules for asylum and migration to the EU and must be implemented by members next June.

The minister and commissioner visited the Citywest centre on Monday afternoon to assess how “pact implementation is going”.

Asked why it was an example of “best practice” Mr Brunner said “it’s working very effectively” adding “the whole system” was “just very professional and very human”.

Mr O’Callaghan said “the most important thing” in the processing of international protection applicants is “speed” so that “people get an answer in respect to their application promptly”.

He said: “That’s why we have increased resources within the IPO (International Protection Office) considerably.

“That’s why the resources are out in Citywest at present.”

Addressing criticism that Ireland should have focused on an agreement with the UK, rather than with the EU, Mr O’Callaghan said Ireland would still be “facing the same issues” with people coming through the border with Northern Ireland had the government not signed the pact.

He said there is ongoing “cooperation and collaboration” between the UK and Ireland on migration issues.

The two men also said they discussed Ireland’s upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union and the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) which Mr Brunner described as another example of “a best practice model” saying “to see it, to feel how it works on the ground, I think that is really important”.