Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 November 2021

Committee on Public Petitions

Direct Provision Policy and Related Matters: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Gerard CraughwellGerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I am delighted that Ms Buckley said that because the Department does a phenomenal job in immigration and it cannot be easy. I have been critical of some of it and the way in which it is done. My colleague, Senator Murphy, referred to the purchase of centres or hotels to house migrants. I remember the situation in Oughterard in Galway well. Although I am from Galway I do not live there now and I remember other situations in Roscommon and Wicklow. Those communities felt that some cute so-and-so arrived down from Dublin and did a deal behind their backs and that the Department was going to land in 550,000 migrants on them. Have lessons been learned from that? Ms Buckley made the point that once a community comes together we are extremely welcoming and helpful. If one goes back to rural housing I remember people moving from Dublin to Leitrim, Clare and all sorts of places. They were not migrants but Dubs, although I suppose that Dubs going west of the Shannon were migrants. Communities are welcoming and they like to see people coming in. Have we learned the lessons so that we will not do that again? Will we engage with the communities before we buy the hotel, guesthouse or whatever?