Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The final issue I want to raise is migration. I agree with the Taoiseach that migration has been very good for this country. In fact, we sometimes do not give ourselves praise for handling well issues with which other countries have had difficulty. We have handled immigration particularly well in this country over the past 25 years, since it began to happen. Before then, it was something that did not really happen in Ireland. We all recognise that it has become a bigger political issue in the past two years or so. My assessment is that the reason it has become a bigger political issue is fairly transparent. It is because the Irish people have been extraordinarily generous in taking in people who are fleeing the war in Ukraine and others seeking international protection. As a result of that, the numbers have increased very significantly over the past two years. With that, we have found it extremely difficult to provide accommodation for everyone coming here. That is the general background.

I do not know whether the Taoiseach passes through Mount Street when he is travelling in from Wicklow in the morning. There is a very significant issue at present outside the International Protection Office, IPO, building. At one stage, there were 150 to 180 tents there. It is a really difficult situation for the people who live and work in the area. Like all those people, I am extremely sympathetic to the people coming to Ireland seeking international protection and having to live in tents. However, is it acceptable that we allow a situation whereby people can just pitch up tents on a busy city street?