Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I thank the Deputy. I agree with him regarding the concept of how we can integrate asylum seekers within our communities and work with them and allow them to work with us. I think we will look back on this pandemic and realise that the vast majority of healthcare workers came from the direct provision system. Many of the people who looked after our elderly and many of those who worked in the meat processing sector also came from the direct provision system. We owe those people a debt for the work they have done. It is important to remember that aspect. Equally, as the Deputy said, once people are engaging in work they are mixing with people from the local community and everyone is learning about each other. That allows for cultural barriers to be broken down. If people help each other out in work, all of a sudden there is a bond. That is a way forward, and that is why I am delighted to see the right to work being more available.

Cultural training is certainly something we must talk about. Deputy Devlin spoke earlier about the cultural sensitivities in this regard. We have seen situations where people from different cultures who would be natural enemies at home ended up in the same centres. We had to be careful of such situations. It could have been the case that people might not even have known about it. I refer to different religions not mixing and some cultures being more supportive of women than others. Those kinds of things are important in how we help to welcome people. It is also why the training is so important. Deputy O'Donoghue is right about the concept of sharing with each other.

I remember visiting a school in Tipperary where 11 languages from 12 countries were spoken. I did not realise that the school was holding an international day when I visited, and I got fed with dishes from each country. It was the most delicious day out I ever had. The parents also came in, got dishes from the different countries, learned about each and asked about recipes. It was the kind of activity which brings people together and that is what we need to do more of. It was then that the children also started to realise that they had things they could share and that it was not a case of everything they had being bad. They had stuff that other people had never even heard of or seen, and they could really start to share. Many of the schools are doing fantastic work with those sorts of things. Hopefully, we can build on that in the future. I thank the Deputy.