Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I agree with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment that Ireland has done an extraordinary job. The people have done an extraordinary job over recent months and years. Immigration can mean different things. It can mean people from Great Britain living and working here under the common travel area arrangements or people living and working here through EU freedom of movement.

People come from all around the world to work, study and reunite with family but in recent months, we have seen unprecedented numbers of fellow human beings fleeing war, persecution and other forms of hardship. Not everyone who comes here is entitled to asylum but the vast majority are fleeing hardship - even many who will ultimately be denied the right to stay. We must always have compassion and never vilify the individuals involved. We have seen the damage that can do in other countries.

Most of the public debate in recent months has really been about refugee accommodation policy or the lack of it. Key to this debate is being clear about what we are discussing. The war in Ukraine has meant that there are far higher numbers in State-funded accommodation. It meant the rapid expansion of what was a badly designed system. For years, Sinn Féin has called out the overreliance on the private sector. This reliance is at the heart of why we still have no real plan. It has been completely developer-led. Decisions made based on private interests rather than a national strategy. There is very little transparency, little engagement with local communities and indeed little respect for local communities with very genuine concerns. The Government has mishandled both policy and implementation. This is legitimate and valid criticism that cannot be dismissed. The way the Government has responded to that criticism is concerning. It conflates criticism of the refugee accommodation policy with criticism of all immigration. That shuts down the debate. The vast majority of people do not want to be associated with hatred and exclusion. They just see the Government’s current approach as completely unsustainable and unworkable with tourism beds being taken out of local communities, planned nursing homes not going ahead and student accommodation being repurposed. Across the board, there is a lack of services and resources in places for people and there is no plan and no communication. Some individuals are making huge amounts from the system off the backs of the most vulnerable people coming to this country and people who are already in our communities while the local communities are being left without the supports they badly need.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors might have only just woken up to this but resources have been sucked out of towns and villages for years. There are fewer Garda stations, GPs and dentists, and pressure is building on all services. A housing emergency has deepened. The Government has shown that it can take an emergency response to a crisis. We witnessed the response to Covid and there has rightly been an emergency response to Ukraine but the Government has refused to declare a housing emergency. People feel that the Government is out of touch with the pressures they face in their everyday lives. This has resulted in vulnerable people being pitted against each other. The blame for the housing crisis in this country lies firmly with the Government.

Sinn Féin is determined to avoid the tension and resentment that can build when Government failures are stacked on Government failures. Why do we not now have a national strategy? Sinn Féin has been calling for a national strategy for months. Why can we not create temporary accommodation centres avoiding heaping any further pressure on our private rental sector? We need a compassionate and common-sense approach and key to this a national strategy that is State-led. The hotel beds that were in use should be returned to local communities. We understand how important a hotel can be to a local economy. Areas must be given the resources and supports they need. There is an ad hoc approach here. Communities want to do this right, particularly the community development organisations such as family resource centres. I ask the Government to do one practical thing, namely, to put integration officers in there. The money is not getting to the places it is supposed to reach. For example, 100 refugees came to Belleek, County Mayo a number of months ago and people welcomed them. They have been looking for something as simple as a small astroturf pitch so that the children in the community and the youngsters who are coming into the community can integrate but there is block after block. There is a breakdown in the system. Things can be done right here and done in a way such that community groups are enabled to do what they do best. They know their communities, they know what is needed in them and they know the people in them. Mayo Intercultural Action has been working for years in the county and welcomed refugees and people from all cultures who then integrated properly. There is a way we can do this and we need to do it now.

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