Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming today. As has been said, there have been huge challenges. There is no question about that. The communication has been unacceptable. There is some accommodation that is not fit for purpose. I question how often it is assessed and who goes to check it. I know of people accommodating people who have not been paid. We must be mindful that we all want to work together. We speak about Oireachtas Members. The communication is not great there either, I will be honest. Where I live I have heard rumours recently about what will happen in my area of Carlow-Kilkenny. I have to say that I am sorry and that I am not aware of it. I feel that is unacceptable.

On the portal, does the Department meet people who have accommodation? Does it go out to assess the accommodation? How many new staff does the Department have to do this? I know it is under pressure. I do not doubt it. I can see the challenges it faces. I am disappointed about what the witnesses said about the Taoiseach and community engagement. We should have had community engagement long ago. If we had, it would have been better for everyone.

I firmly believe that we all need to work together. That is what we are here to do. We are here to work together and help in any way we can. However, it is not easy when we are trying to find information. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has been looking for a lot of staff for his Department. Community engagement is at a critical stage. We need much more community engagement. The witnesses mentioned that they will purchase sites and build. That is good. As I said, I firmly believe we all need to work together. The problem is what you do and how you do it. I know of one area with a lot of houses where there is one entrance and one exit. There are places about which I have to question who is making the decisions. It is not us and them. As previous speakers have said, we are here to help and work with the Department and the Minister. However, if we see calls on our areas that are not - no one knows an area better than themselves - suitable or not fit for purpose, we will say so.

What can be done here, going forward?

The other thing I thought was really good was where the Department was looking for families to take in our Ukrainians. Was there a big takeup on that? It is important. We all want to mix and get to know everyone's cultures. The officials are from the lead bodies on this. If they do not lead it right, the knock-on effect will not be as good as it should be. As I said, all of us as Oireachtas Members want to play our part and help in any way we can. It is absolutely critical for us. There have been a lot of challenges for the officials, but there have certainly been a lot of challenges for us. As previous speakers have said, this is about communication, information and services. It could be schools, doctors or whatever. We just want to ensure everything is right. It is not that we do not want to do anything wrong; we just want to ensure it is right for everyone. I do not know when the officials' community engagement is going to happen, how quickly it is going to happen and what exactly will happen. What can we all do, to play our part like the officials do, to inform, help and communicate with everyone.

I have outlined my concerns there. I am conscious of how hard all the officials have worked. As I said, I am not questioning them here. Everything changed so much in the last year and a half. No-one was expecting anything like this. There are many challenges there and many things that need to be done.