Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are many reasons the country faces a housing crisis and a health crisis. Almost every country in the developed world is facing some form of housing or health crisis. Governments in those countries are doing their best to deal with them, and that is exactly what we are doing here. It is our responsibility to put things right and we will do the best we can to do so. Again, I would ask the Deputy not to inadvertently make excuses for the far right or for racists. No matter what problem a country faces, and every country has some problem, the far right will blame that problem on the other, on the brown man or the brown woman. I ask the Deputy to please not inadvertently make excuses for them by pursuing the line of argument he is pursuing at the moment.

I agree with the Deputy that Irish people understand migration better than most. Most of our families are formed by migration. My father came here from India. My mother is from Ireland but they met when they worked in the NHS in England. My sister lives in London. Every story of every Irish family is one of migration of some form or another. So many of my relatives live in the US. We understand migration better than most. We understand that, by and large, migration has been good for Ireland.

The big tech companies that pay billions of euro in tax and allow our country to function the way it does have a very diverse international workforce. Those companies are not just here because of our favourable tax rates. One of the reasons they come here is that we are open to talent from all over the world. In any Irish hospital, it can be seen how diverse the workforce is there. Our public services simply would not function were it not for the fact that people come from other parts of the world to work here. We know how much migration has enriched our culture and made Ireland a much more interesting place in recent decades. That is why we should always emphasise the fact that countries that are open to migration tend to be countries that are wealthier, more successful and more stable, and that is why we should continue to be open to migration.

There is a difference, though, between legal migration and illegal migration, and we should not be afraid to say that. There are many legal pathways to migration into Ireland. Last year, 30,000 Irish citizens returned home. Any Irish citizen can, of course, come and live in Ireland. UK citizens can do the same. Every year, tens of thousands, if not more, EU citizens come to live in Ireland. They can live anywhere in the European Union but they choose to come and live in Ireland, largely because of the economic opportunities we have to offer. Last year alone, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment issued 40,000 work permits, the highest number ever, to people from outside the European Union who are coming here to take up employment or to study. We should encourage people to avail of the many legal pathways to come into the county, including those I have outlined.

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