Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are always exceptions, am I right? Somebody will try to get a headline and be in sync with a community that might be worried or angry about something that they have not been told about and feel something has been sprung on them. That is a human reaction. Communities, by and large, will be reasonable in this space if they are treated with respect, given information in advance, if it is clearly explained how something will work and told how many people are coming. Also, it must be explained how things like education, school spaces, healthcare and so on will be provided. There is an onus on the State to manage the communications of this more effectively. There are lots of really good examples of direct provision centres located in towns around Ireland where there has been fantastic integration. One of the Ministers who sat at the Cabinet table this week explained that there was a welcome event and party held for the new citizens in town at a direct provision centre, which was a hotel, and is literally 100 yd from his house. There was instant integration and the placement has worked really well. Such a situation can be replicated across Ireland. Irish people are generous but want to know what is going on, and that is the challenge for us.

There are sinister elements too. There is a far-right element in Ireland. They have not got much political traction but they are active. They are racist and they will look to stoke up trouble in communities on the back of rumours and fear, which we need to combat head-on because that kind of politics is very active in other countries. Fortunately for us, such activity has been much more successful in other countries than here. Most of the time Irish people have no time for that kind of lack of generosity or, in some cases, bigotry and racism. Whether we like it or not it is there, is under the surface and it will take advantage of vulnerable communities if we do not manage these things properly. It is a big challenge for all parties to work together to ensure that migration and the politics surrounding same are not part of the main political discourse at election time in Ireland. We are planning for a country that will have an extra 1 million people in the next two decades. Half of that extra 1 million people, in terms of an addition to Ireland's population, will not have been born in Ireland. Today, 17% of our population was not born here and that percentage is increasing all of the time, which is good. It is a really good thing in terms of the way Ireland sees the world and has an outward-looking open approach to how we interact with other countries and so on. It has allowed us to have a platform for not only international trade but also a much more open approach towards how society lives and tolerates difference. I am sure Senator Lawless understands that only too well from the work that he has done in the US and here.