David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions, and continued interest and support on this matter. It is greatly appreciated. It is appreciated by the migrants as well, and other colleagues.

With respect to local authorities, in the past two weeks, we invited all local authorities to come to a seminar in Athlone where we addressed many issues such as how they can get involved and support migrants even more than they currently do. I addressed the seminar, which was good. We are working with the local authorities. The Deputy is correct that they have a major role to play in this regard. They do a good deal of work in this area and we will work with them to increase and improve that over time. The Deputy's question is very timely in terms of the recent seminar on these matters with all the local authorities in attendance.

The Deputy is also correct regarding the local elections. We had a number of meetings throughout the country at which we tried to encourage, support and inform migrants of their right to vote in local elections. We also have documentation in the various accommodation centres. We encourage migrants to get involved in politics, either by supporting candidates or standing as candidates themselves, and to be aware of, and learn about, what is happening in the political process. We are doing the best we can in that regard.

I recall the Deputy's parliamentary question. There is no problem with engagement between candidates in local elections, or any election, and people in various accommodation centres. We would encourage that, but we must be aware that these accommodation centres are people's homes and that there are children living in them. There are safety aspects in that regard but in the communal areas, there is no difficulty in people leaving literature and so on in them or meeting with asylum seekers or refugees. We would encourage that and we support it as best we can.

A new long-term integration social fund to 2027 is being prepared. The debate is ongoing in that regard.