Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we look at the tables in pages 2 and 3, we can see the figures that we have taken. The population is 5.1 million, and then we see the number of active temporary protection registrations as of 9 January was 70,000 in Ireland. It has gone up substantially since then. As I have said, it is great that we have been able to help those people. It has, however, put a strain on. We have had to do our work to help that, and rightly so, including all of us and the Departments. It is safe to say that the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is under significant pressure. From the day they were in here, anybody who sat through that meeting with the Department could not have come away from it without realising that. I believe it would be worthwhile, from a public accounts view and from a financial management perspective, to flag this up with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and ask whether he is raising this with the Department of Foreign Affairs and with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and if he has had discussions with his European counterparts on this matter. It is clear when we look at the ratio that Ireland is taking in 1.4% of our population and when we look at other areas, we can see that some northern European countries are at 0.5% and some others are also very low. We must excuse the Mediterranean countries because they have a problem in a different way, in that they are trying to cope with the huge influx from the Middle East and from North Africa. Countries like Italy, Greece and Spain are under significant pressure in that regard. There is no sign of matters improving in Ukraine in the near future. It is important that we continue to do our part and that we stretch ourselves as far as possible to do that and to provide every assistance. It is the right thing to do for these people but we want to be able to provide for them. We do not want people coming here who might end up homeless. It is important to remember that we probably have one of the worst housing crisis in Europe and that the matter should be flagged up with the countries that have capacity still. Do any members wish to comment on this? Is it agreed that we just ask the question of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman?