Ms Maeve Richardson:

I am delighted there will be a public consultation in the Seanad on direct provision, a system which brings shame to our country. However, compared with countries like Hungary and Turkey, there are ways in which we can seek to integrate people into our society as much as possible. We have seen great projects, for example, from Scouting Ireland and the Irish Second-Level Students Union. However, if we remain silent on what is happening in other countries, what is the point of any such efforts? We should be taking the lead by saying we will not stand for this. We are a Europe of peace but there is no point if we are not working to keep the peace between people internally in our member countries.