Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the contributors and will keep my comments brief. Mr. Killoran asked what Ireland could do and spoke about migration being a positive and permanent reality. Perhaps the contributors might explain how we could persuade the public that migration was a positive and permanent reality. That links with Mr. Killoran's point about ensuring the responsibility to accept migrants is shared among European countries. For example, many will have seen what happened in the Mediterranean and thought it was a tragedy. They are sympathetic and appalled, but they might not associate it with a humanitarian crisis.

When it comes to the question of accepting migrants they would perhaps shirk away and say, "Maybe not at my door". How do we persuade the public in a positive way that we should accept migrants? This communication is important because it is the public who ultimately put pressure on political leaders to ensure that migration is viewed in a positive light and that we should actively share the responsibility. This leads to consideration of a quota system as suggested by Mr. Sutherland. It cuts out that short-term negativism that he mentioned. How could migration be integrated into Ireland's future development policies and strategies?