Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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I thank all our witnesses for coming in. I know it is not easy to put themselves out there and talk about rights for students. This is especially the case for black or brown students in Ireland today, and for anyone who is different. It is unfortunate to see the level of racism and discrimination on social media and the resulting fear out there among students from foreign countries. People are fearful out in society now if they are an other in Ireland. That said, the majority of Irish people are kind and want the best for everybody. It is important to keep this in mind as well.

Our health system would not still be standing if it were not for people from minority backgrounds. They have allowed our health system to operate to the level it is able to today. From my own recent experience in the emergency department in Letterkenny hospital when my lung collapsed, the doctors and nurses I dealt with at the time of that emergency were all staff who were not Irish, and this is the case everywhere around the country. The doctor who saved my life was a black doctor, and a black woman doctor. Obviously, many of these doctors were students from other countries who decided to work here. Some doctors who have been working in our hospitals since the 1990s still cannot get their families over. They originally came over on student visas.

I heard the opening statement contributions from my office and I have also read the documents submitted to the committee. What can we do?

We can sit here for hours and talk about inequality, and I can probably talk about that issue more than other members. I know some of those issues from walking into canteens and restaurants, or into any local shopping centre. People and students from other countries do not get the same level of treatment as a white, settled worker in those shops. Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, MRCI, recently dealt with a case in a restaurant relating to a woman. I know now she was not on a student visa but I do not think the visa makes any odds, in one sense. The woman was working for 50 hours a week and being paid €200. I have done a lot of work with MRCI around those who work with impaired people and who come to this country to work as carers. They are treated like rubbish, and we should not accept that in this country.

My question to our witnesses is what should we do and not what can we do. What action can we take in the short term? We could fill this room with suggestions but it is about being able to take action as soon as possible for us, as a committee. I talk about access to education and being successful. We all have the access but it is about being successful within the educational system in this country, including in universities, for people from minority groups and people who come to this country for education. What should the committee do? We should stop all the talk about international students and the English language and should put our money where our mouths are and treat people as human beings because in Ireland in general now, I am angry at how we treat black and brown people, those from disadvantaged countries, let us say, and countries that are going through wars. We are treating people like objects, and that is now the norm in the country, including among our political parties and activists, and people running in local elections. There is all the talk in the media at the moment about immigrants and migrants. It must be very tough to be a student in this country who is not from Ireland or who looks non-Irish. It must be really difficult. I do not know if the witnesses have any experience in that regard. Perhaps there is something they would like to share. I am sorry for going on, but I have so much solidarity with our foreign students.