OCO submission on the EU Migration Pact

On the 29th of March, the Government approved Ireland’s National Implementation Plan on the new EU Migration Pact. The implementation of the Pact will directly affect migrant children arriving in Ireland, whether they are seeking asylum or are migrating for other reasons. It is crucial that the implementation of the Pact takes due account of European and international children’s rights standards Ireland has an obligation to uphold.

In recent months, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) have been engaging with the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to ensure the Plan is child rights centred. We attended the Department’s stakeholder forum hosted in September 2024 and March 2025 and had a bilateral meeting with the Department in February to outline our key concerns and recommendations. After this meeting we submitted our observations which can be found in the below submission:

• Aibreán 2025
• Cineál: Taisceadh