John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)

I welcome the initiative the Minister has put in place. Like many other Deputies and councillors to whom I have spoken, I can sometimes be inundated with representations in this respect from people who have been on the waiting list for one, two or three years. It is a traumatic time for many people who have to leave their country of origin for reasons that, in some cases, are a matter of life and death, or because of political or religious persecution and for economic reasons where, because of the severity of quality of the life, they need to leave. I have always felt that-----

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