John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, the Minister and Minister of State are the ones who set the time for this debate, which is necessitated by a crisis brought about by the Government's complete mismanagement of the entire issue. The erosion of State services over many decades has pushed communities right to breaking point. It is a situation compounded by the failure of the Government to engage directly with communities over new arrivals; communities that are not equipped to deal with the added numbers within them. Instead, the communities are getting contradictory information and news from the Government and local government about the reality that is happening on the ground, with the promises of additional resources and services failing time and time again to materialise. New figures show that some 950 refugees are sleeping rough on our streets, while communities across the State are at breaking point. This is simply down to the failure of Government to develop a coherent plan.

In the early days of the Russian invasion, I was one of a number of Members of the Oireachtas who visited the refugee camps on the Ukrainian, Romanian and Moldovan borders where I witnessed first-hand the scale and extent of human tragedy starting to unfold. In March 2020, the European Commission proposed to activate the temporary protection directive, which is scheduled to come to an end on 4 March 2025. It has to be said, it is completely unclear at this time what measures will be put in place by the Government to address the situation in respect of those unable to return to Ukraine following this date. We know that at this point, there are approximately 103,000 Ukrainians within the State. However, we believe it is incumbent on the Government to signal now to those Ukrainians in Ireland and to the EU that when the temporary protection directive expires in March of next year at the latest, Ukrainians will be subject to the State's immigration laws. Ukrainians who wish to remain in Ireland past that expiration date should be allowed to start applying now for critical skills permits, for example. If their home part of Ukraine still remains unsafe at that time, they should be allowed to apply for international protection within our system. However, that requires additional resourcing to cope with the additional numbers who will be availing of it at that point. What we need is information. What we need from the Government now is to give clarity.

Ireland was quick to enthusiastically express its willingness to accept large numbers of refugees, which was the right thing to do. At the time, I recall figures of up to 200,000 being talked about and despite the fact that these figures were being freely thrown about by Minister after Minister in the Government, the lack of planning and foresight by the Government has been absolutely shocking. There is absolutely no plan whatsoever. We have now reached a point where in budget 2024, 26% of the budget of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's, Department will go towards temporary and international protection spending, that is, 20% towards Ukrainian supports and 6% towards international protection accommodation services. It is estimated that this year, there will be somewhere in the region of between 12,000 and 15,000 international protection applicants. That compares with an average figure of 3,500 per year between 2017 and 2019.

The single biggest failure of this Government on the whole issue of immigration has been its failure to hold fear in check. Fear is being allowed to travel unchecked and untrammelled across the State. This is down to a singular failure by the Government to communicate clearly with communities. The prevalence of fear has positioned discourse on the issue soundly in the field of emotionalism. It is the great tragedy of the history of human interaction that when the base is mired in an emotional miasma of fear, factual and rational discussion is rarely allowed to be heard. This is the feverish environment this Government has created. Within the information vacuum that has been left by the Government, far-right agitators have been allowed to hold court.

They have used the moment to foment fear. International applicants have been assaulted on our streets. Accommodation centres have been burned to the ground. Members of this House have been accosted on the street outside our national Parliament. The streets of our city centre were burned in uncontrolled riots. The lack of prosecutions continues to embolden these criminals. The Government’s communication strategy is a shambles. There is no clear evidence that a coherent communications strategy has been in place at any time. There is no evidence of a Government prepared to engage in good faith with communities to listen to their concerns, temper their fears and to address the added strain on services that are already at breaking point across the State. The disparities allowed to exist in terms of the Government offering full access to social welfare and higher rates of payment than other countries has left Ireland out of step with its EU counterparts. There is no doubt that change is needed to bring Ireland’s policy into line with other European countries. Change should come but it must be humane. For those Ukrainians currently in Ireland, it should avoid cliff edges and it should be staged. The changes to rates of social welfare payments, which must happen, must be guided by the need to provide adequacy, decency and life with dignity.

We support the reduction of social welfare payments for new arrivals from Ukraine but we are concerned that the Government is creating a perverse incentive that will heap further pressure on the private rented sector. The Government is doing this for social welfare payments for newly arriving Ukrainians who are living in designated accommodation centres only while continuing to offer social welfare payments equal to those Ukrainians who live in the private rented sector.

Sinn Féin proposes to amend the International Protection Act 2015 and the related social welfare legislation to fully decouple cash supports for beneficiaries of temporary protection directive from the ordinary social protection system. A review of the equity and adequacy of payments to international protection applicants must also be conducted. Sinn Féin remains committed to phasing out direct provision. However, given the significant escalation of the numbers coming here, the priority in the short to medium term must be the provision of larger accommodation centres to afford shelter, safety and necessary services to those fleeing war or persecution while reducing to the greatest extent possible the reliance on buildings and land that should really be used for other purposes, including hotels, nursing homes, student accommodation and, indeed, critical ordinary housing. These centres should be human rights compliant and allow for a level of privacy and dignity for all occupants. Sinn Féin would prioritise the creation of State-run accommodation centres that would include the use of vacant office blocks so that the basic needs of Ukrainians and asylum seekers looking for shelter can be met safely. Sinn Féin would also prioritise the use of hotels and other buildings to their original purposes to the greatest extent possible to restore local tourism-based economies and vital services for communities that are at breaking point in many places.

At the outset of the Russian invasion, it made sense to award medical cards automatically to those seeking safety here, deferring the means test to a later date. However, the HSE was issued policy instructions in 2023 to continue to award the medical card automatically for a full 12 months to Ukrainians who continued to arrive. This was despite the absence of operational capacity barriers to conducting an earlier means test and despite the provision in Irish law that entitlements should be on the same basis as Irish citizens. Sinn Féin proposes reducing the preferential treatment in the award of medical cards by conducting medical card means tests earlier for all.

I am opposed to open borders. It is a position Sinn Féin has laid clear over many years, including in our 2020 election manifesto. We favour a rules-based system on immigration and migration guided and governed by humanitarian concerns, similar to those that exist in other European countries, where we have control of our borders. We must have a fair, efficient and enforced migration and immigration system. It should be a system with well functioning rules and regulations that is fully and comprehensively understood by all. The International Protection Act 2015 empowers and sets the parameters in which the Minister can designate countries as safe. Conditions include that it can be shown that there is generally and consistently no persecution, torture, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment and no threat of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict. This assumption that a country is generally for its citizens to live facilitates faster processing of IP applications.

I will conclude in a moment. This is Sinn Féin time, in fairness.

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