Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. If the shoe was on the other foot and the Minister and I were fleeing a war situation in Ireland and fled to Ukraine, I do not think I would want to be put up in a beauty spot on a green hillside or in a place where beautiful waves crash up against the shore. I would want to be put in a place that ticks more than the box of having a roof over my head. I would need a place that could meet my family's education, transport and health needs. That is not the strategy in Ireland at the moment. The strategy is to take people in, welcome them and look after them. That message is great and positive, and we do not want to take from that, but those people are being sent to scenic beauty spots, which is fine in May 2022 but it will be a different story come the autumn. Schools in rural parts of Clare with 23 pupils now have 60 pupils. The public healthcare system is incapable of meeting those people's needs. People are traipsing along the road day and night in high-visibility jackets because there is no bus passing their doors. I am in the city two or three days a week and do not see such people in the cities or larger towns of Ireland which have the capacity to care for them. This cannot all be funnelled through Ireland's beauty spots and seasonal hotels. I am not blaming the Minister because I know this is a European directive. The Minister is doing his damnedest. The strategy is the issue. IPAS is offered accommodation of 120 beds in a hotel and it snaps up that offer. No one is looking at the ancillary services, pastoral care and support these people require. None of that is being properly considered. It will not haunt us now but it will haunt us in the months ahead. We need a more holistic, nationwide response. We should not be funnelling everyone to Ireland's beauty spots.