Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for coming before us. I acknowledge the work they do, and very difficult work it must be. I am sure I speak for the Vice Chairman and all of the other members of this committee when I say we will be only too happy to offer any support and assistance that we are able to give.

I have a number of questions of a general nature. The first concerns the two groups represented here today. A bugbear of mine across the political spectrum is that we seem to have a lot of groups on every issue. Are there many other groups in the field of migrant support and help, and do they co-operate with each other? From what I see, they do, given the interaction between Mr. Killoran and our other two witnesses. I welcome that and I ask if it is generally the case across the board. Having too many cooks to spoil the broth is a bugbear I have about most things like this.

How do the witnesses find the attitude of State agencies to migrants in general and to the work of the migrant support organisations in particular? I am talking about the Civil Service, politicians like us and, in particular at local level, the local councillors. How do such organisations relate to the State and how do they find the attitude of State bodies? There might be some outstanding good examples of that co-operation that the witnesses could mention to us, if they are there.

I note from the presentation by Sr. Keenan that the work of her organisation is mostly in counties Wicklow and Dublin. Is it very much an east coast problem? Naturally, the metropolitan area and the greater Dublin area would be the first point of entry for immigrants. Are there support services that her organisation supplies or offers on a nationwide basis? Given I am a Kerry man, perhaps the south west is an example.

I take on board that language difficulties must be a very serious problem. There are so many languages. We all know who the main immigrant groups are from our own communities. I know there is a very sizeable Polish community in my area and I picked up a few little bits of Polish in my time, not that it would get me very far in Warsaw on holidays. There must be a lot of minor languages out there and it must be difficult to have interpreters for each and every single one of the languages. Did the witnesses ever consider bringing out a small handy booklet of vocabulary that could be given to people arriving, no matter what language they speak? It might be multifunctional, with just the basics, for example, “Where is this place?” or “How do I cross the road?”, and so on.

The housing area is a big problem for both organisations here today and is probably the biggest problem the whole country is facing at the moment. With regard to the provision of social housing, do the organisations find resistance from local communities? I have to say that, anecdotally, I pick up some resistance when houses are being allocated to people with strange sounding names from faraway places, and the locals wonder if they are being squeezed out. I know a lot of that is very unfair, and I am giving a flippant enough outline of it. However, I am sure it must be an issue.

As to the migrants themselves, what is their attitude to us in Ireland generally? Do the witnesses find they have respect for this country? Do they accept our ways and are they happy enough to assimilate into our lifestyle and the way we do things? In particular, do they respect our laws? Again, any crime that is committed by a foreign national always seems to get the headline and, no more than with the Traveller community, that is very unfair. In general, do the witnesses find they are anxious to blend in with the community here in Ireland?

In that respect, and I know vaccinations have been mentioned, what is their attitude to vaccination generally? Do migrants tend to see it as something that we in Ireland provide for them and if they are staying as our guests, to a certain extent, they would go along with it, or are they resistant to it?

I have asked a mouthful of questions there and I have some more if the witnesses want to follow up later.