Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Neither I nor Senator Ruane are calling for the Minister to resign. I want to begin by getting the issue of the far right out of the way. It is led by one or two men and the bigger the donkey, the heavier the load. When I came into this House in 2020, I remember the fear out there around the Covid protests and the anti-vaccine protests. I got involved then with the Hope and Courage Collective, which aims to tackle the far right. Senator Ruane spoke earlier about those living in direct provision centres and hotels not being safe.Obviously, my colleague does not mean the people are killing each other; far from it. What she is referring to is what we have just spoken about it, namely, that the policies in place mean it is acceptable in this country in 2023 that there are people, perhaps with five or six children, who call home a little room in a hotel. People are living in poverty and are not getting good-quality education and healthcare. These people are really on the margins of society. We talk about our economy being the best we have seen it. That is the case for some people but not for all. Many people in this country are on the margins and are really struggling. We must address that. Paulo Freire, whom I absolutely love, talked about how oppressed people can, unfortunately, become oppressors. We have seen that in the course of the Donald Trump campaign, with the talk of putting up a wall and that if we give to them, it is taking from us. Unfortunately, when people are living in the pits and have absolutely nothing, they are dependent on what the State gives them, which is buttons when one considers the cost of electricity, looking after children, etc. People are angry that their needs are not being met in this country, and they have a right to be angry about it. People are feeding into that, as we saw last year. Senator Ruane went out to local communities and supported the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, in educating our local communities. When oppressed people become oppressors, it does not make them bad people. When a single mother is walking her child down the street to participate in an anti-refugee protest, it does not make her a racist and a bad person. In my opinion, she is uneducated. People in that situation genuinely believe they will get more if we do not give to foreign people or other people. My message today to ordinary people is that giving refuge to others is the right thing to do. I do not agree with Senator Keogan that the solution is to put them back on an aeroplane. How the hell can we put people back into warzones?