Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If I may respond to that, I have great respect for Deputy Healy-Rae. He has been elected to Dáil Éireann many times and I recognise that on many different topics, with all the experience he has, he speaks an awful lot of sense. However, I have to honestly say to him that when I hear him speak about "our people", I flinch. He speaks, for example, about the Ukrainians. Of course, they have not been born in Ireland and of course we still have a duty to people who live in our country and were born here. We have the deepest of duties to them. The people who are coming from Ukraine are leaving a country that is in the middle of a war. They do not know when they will be able to go home and if they do go home, they do not know what they will be going back home to. We have some duty to them as well to try to help them. I just want to put that argument to the Deputy. I do not believe he is trying to do this, but when he uses that language, and when that language becomes the normal part of how we describe migration, it begins to lessen significantly the experience of that person who is coming to our country.

I live in a constituency that has housing difficulties that are every bit as intense as those in the Deputy's constituency. I have visited international protection centres in my constituency. I meet those people. They are coming to Ireland from conditions that I cannot even imagine, at times and in ways I cannot even imagine. I will make a point to the Deputy, and I do so while respecting him and the points he makes. I put it to him honestly that that kind of language he uses when he talks about "our people" implies that there are other people as well. There are consequences to that and I think we should consider them.

On the Deputy's specific point - and I am not calling him anything or having a go at him - I will make a point back, which I think I am allowed to do. On the point that Deputy makes about the €800 payment, he is correct that it is a payment as opposed to a tax-free allowance. The Deputy is correct that there is no tax to be paid on it. In many of those circumstances, the payment is being made available to people who have Ukrainians living with them in their homes. That is different from renting out accommodation. There is a difference. In many cases, that €800 is going to somebody who will have somebody living with them in their home. We are recognising what that does and the effect it can have. We are saying that in the absence of that, there is a risk that the Ukrainian person might not have accommodation and could be homeless. I think there is a difference.