David Quinn: Our immigration system is a mess and Helen McEntee can’t fix it

Liberal Denmark has tough measures, but our politicians lack the will even to make the current EU arrangements work

Italians and Greeks think nations like ours should take more asylum-seekers. Photo: Getty

David Quinn

To be fair to Justice Minister Helen McEntee, her brief is fiendishly complex and probably beyond the ability of any one person to properly master. On Tuesday, she appeared before the Oireachtas Justice Committee to answer questions about the European Union’s new migration pact.

One person asking her questions was Senator Michael McDowell. But you could see even he was struggling to understand the asylum system fully, and he is a former justice minister.