Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That point the Senator made about vetting is a very important one. I will respond to that before the broader point. As she knows, vetting has a very specific meaning in Irish law. People get vetted if they are working or volunteering with children or adults who are vulnerable. There is a clear process and that is where vetting takes place. Vetting does not take place anywhere else. If I move into a new apartment block, a new community or wherever, I do not get vetted. None of us gets vetted. That is a very important point to make and I appreciate the Senator raised it.

The Senator used the expression “not having the space to think well”. That, again, is a good summation. We are responding still to a crisis and very significant numbers of people arriving and we have not had that space. When I brought in the White Paper on ending direct provision, I was hoping we would have that opportunity to create that space in terms of our response to people seeking international protection and looking at new ways of accommodating but also new ways of integrating people into communities. Not only have we seen a very significant increase in the numbers seeking international protection, we have had the war in Ukraine as well.

There are mechanisms of the community fora that are set up as part of the Ukraine response. They are looking to bring in the statutory and non-statutory sectors as well. Does that perhaps reach down to the local community centre that will probably be doing much of the on-the-ground integration work? Not always. My Department does large but also small chunks of funding to recognise smaller community groups perhaps doing once-off events to support the integration of international protection applicants.

It is a fair question. There is definitely more work that has to be done. However, it has to be done across government with local government as well. That is, again, one of these reasons we funded integration officers in local authorities - to allow for that space so the local authorities are more involved in that integration work on the ground.