Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact the Dáil has allocated time to discussing an issue of major policy importance economically and socially: migration. In recent weeks and months, this issue has dominated much public discourse in this House and probably in houses and communities across the country. Unfortunately, a significant amount of that conversation has been grounded in misinformation, disinformation and, often, worse than that. We have seen a coarseness develop and at times a cruelty has entered the discussions. We have seen a discourse that has allowed broad brushstrokes be used to label human beings who come to our country seeking protection and help. We have forgotten the humanity sometimes in the discussion and have preferred to use labels. That needs to stop because none of it helps, much of it hurts and all of it seeks to divide.

I strongly believe communities have every right to ask questions and seek information, and to do that without being portrayed as extreme. If change is coming to a town or village, as I see in my own constituency when a new housing estate is being built, people want to know what is going on and what it means. That is okay and should not be portrayed as extremism. People should not be labelled for asking those questions.

By the Dáil, the people’s House, having this debate, it marks an opportunity for us to reset the discussion and start the open and frank conversation with people on the realities this country, Continent and world face. This is a relatively new reality for Ireland and Irish people. We were a country of emigrants. Our country has been shaped by that. For decades, people left these shores in search of a better life. For decades, people in this House advocated for the rights of those who had gone abroad. We have a very distinct history. Everybody in this Houses knows people or has family members who have left Ireland for the chance of a well-paid job and a better future or life. We all remember all too well the GAA clubs that could not field a team and the rural schools that closed their doors because they could not get the student numbers. This knowledge and pain of the tapestry of emigration has woven its way through our country’s history.

That knowledge and that history we have must shape our perspective and our compassion as we together write our next chapter because the Ireland of today is remarkably different. People now come to this country and they come for many reasons; many come not just because they can but because they have to. The Government must and will help these people, but we need to match that compassion with compassion and support for communities across the country because changing a town or village’s population is not without consequence and can pose a real challenge and opportunity. That has to be acknowledged and addressed by the Government and supported with resources, as the Minister of State, Deputy O’Brien, is doing.

We want to keep on doing that and we want to do it better. We need now to develop a long-term migration policy that is joined up across all the facets of the Government and the State. That has to be the aim. We need to develop a new policy that accurately reflects the huge benefits of migration and the benefits of people who come to this country, the skills they possess and the talent they bring. As Minister with responsibility for further and higher education, I can very much attest to that. Talent is unleashed when met with opportunity.

Over the course of 2023, 30,000 Ukrainian people engaged in further education and training in Ireland. In addition to that, 560 are in higher education as we speak, 750 did post-leaving certificate courses and 1,200 undertook Safe Pass courses to work on construction sites and build houses in this country to help us. Our agency, SOLAS, is embedded in communities right across the country with the education and training boards, ETBs, teaching people the English language, which is so key to integration. We are funding English language provision for people to work in our health services.

On a purely economic level, our country needs inward migration and we cannot take that for granted any more. We need to make the case for that. Politicians who are of the centre and who believe in being outward looking and in multilateralism most not now be silent and must make the case for the benefits of migration.

I am a Minister for skills. We have skills shortages right across our economy. We need people to come to this country to fill those jobs. Our education system and businesses value migration and multilateralism. It supports freedom of movement and exchange of talent. International education is worth €2.38 billion to the Irish economy. Let us not do what some other countries have done in terms of snubbing that and the opportunities and advantages it has. This is a conversation that has to be grounded in facts. We must use any Government strategy and, I hope, any Oireachtas strategy to combat false narratives and information to defend and explain what we are doing and why we are doing it.

However, we cannot allow that excuse about lack of communication to in any way mainstream far-right language. Ireland is not full. Ireland is not only for the Irish. What is this "unvetted male" situation? When I moved into my home, I was an unvetted male. What do people mean by this? It is a loaded term. We should stop using it. Ireland is a country that relies on migrant workers to staff our health service. It requires them to build our homes and uses them to work in our cafes, pubs and restaurants. It is vital that we equip communities with the knowledge and resources they need to manage the changes that communities are facing. We can never allow our conversations develop into an us versus them scenario, and any political party that tries to prey on that narrative should be called out. So many countries have got integration wrong. Ireland must and will get it right. That does mean we need this new long-term migration strategy. It means we need to reduce our reliance, as the Ministers, Deputies O'Gorman and Darragh O'Brien, want to do, on private providers when it comes to accommodation. It means we need to better communicate and better support our communities but it also means we should never lose sight of the benefit of migration and the fact that we have a fair and firm system.

We welcome people here. We support people and want them to come here. If people come here and do not have a right to do so, however, they, too, will face a system that is rules based and firm and they will face the consequences - if they do not have a right to be here- in being asked to leave and do so much more swiftly. We need to stand united in the face of a small number of people who try to hijack the tricolour and undermine democracy. Instead of pandering to them, we need to support communities. We need to support an honest, factual debate, to resource communities and to champion the value of migration. Just like so many Irish people abroad helped to build and shape countries, those coming to this country today will help make a positive Ireland for all.

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