Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I met them a number of weeks ago and they gave a very honest account to me at that meeting. The raw facts of what the witnesses have described portray to the committee an outward consistency, which we too must display. We all know Irish people who have left Ireland so it is important that in advocating for them we show an internal consistency in our approach to people in a similar situation in this country, as the witness has described. To see one's family go through that cycle of fear and live a difficult daily life in which they cannot plan their future and have the opportunities everybody should have illustrates the importance of this issue. I thank the witnesses, particularly Priya, for their honest descriptions.

I am confronted with this issue regularly in my constituency of Dublin West. According to the census, the constituency is the most diverse in the country. I interact with people each week and see the difficulties families experience, even with regard to the most basic things we all take for granted. It is difficult to see people, particularly children, live in that cycle of fear, where they cannot look beyond the next week. Hopefully, this committee can continue the work of the previous committee and progress this matter. The witnesses gave a broad outline and the infographic is very useful, but what has been their interaction with this and the previous Ministers to date? What have the Ministers said to the witnesses in their engagements with them? What do the witnesses believe is stopping the Minister progressing this properly? Have they intensified their engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, the previous chairman of this committee, to press the importance of this matter? Is there a roadmap whereby the witnesses believe it can be pushed through? What do they think has caused the vacuum in trying to progress it?