Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, Chair. I am also conscious that I have missed a lot of the discussion so I may be going over old ground. I just want to make a very quick point about the public consultation piece that was flagged. For me there are a couple of aspects and I would welcome further input on them. We have some elements of the public saying they should be consulted on this. An Taoiseach has been very clear and we all need to underline that consultation does not mean people have a veto over who is coming into their communities. However, the lack of engagement and consultation creates an excuse for those who have a much more racist agenda to exploit the situation. There needs to be awareness about that. The lack of public consultation also prevents the groups that want to reach out and support these groups doing so. We have seen the local area "for all" groups. The lack of public consultation prevents those groups from actively working on the ground.

I would love to hear more about what consultation happens with the communities we are providing accommodation for. I look at areas where people are living in hotels. The contract comes back and there are not enough rooms coming back and all of a sudden people need to be moved. These are people who have put down roots in the community, whose children are in school. These are people who have already been displaced, perhaps due to the war, who are now being further displaced and destabilised again from a place where they had imperfect stability. I would love to know what engagement happens with residents and people seeking protection. Quite often we hear they are not being consulted and moves are coming last-minute for them. It adds to the trauma and instability. Mr. Walsh was talking about planning of school placements, doctors and things like that. If decisions are being made last-minute without consultation with the residents themselves, it really undermines any work that might be done there. I would love to hear what is being done to engage with them properly.