Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A refugee centre was opened in the town of Ballinamore 15 years ago near where I live and families came there from Africa, different parts of eastern Europe and other places. They came to a small old hotel, which was condemned at the time, and families lived in one room. It caused me to question how we treat people who come here seeking refuge and looking for a safe place to live. I dealt with those people over a few years and they were people of huge ability and intellect. They were given €19 a week and spent their day sitting in a room with nothing in it, feeling isolated and alone. The Ireland of a thousand welcomes certainly did not display that welcome to those people. The same happened in Butlins and in many other such centres throughout the country. If that is how we treat people who come here, we have a problem.

We sent millions of our people to every corner of the earth. Our people are scattered everywhere. Some people left because of conflict but poverty is the main reason people left down the centuries. Yet when people come here seeking the kind of refuge and sanctuary that so many places offered our people, we treat them very badly. That is one of the points that needs to be made in this debate. While we are looking at the crisis in Calais and talking about taking 200 children into this country, we have to do with a heart and a half. As was said earlier, the 800 families who have already registered with the Irish Red Cross have a heart and a half. It is my belief that 8,000 more families would have it if they were asked would they do it. They certainly would.

The Irish people are generous. They want to do something for these children. They want to do something for these people, many of whom have travelled the length and breadth of continents to find safety and refuge. We as a Government and an assembly have the opportunity to represent those people and to represent the people that elect us and to do the right thing by them. The right thing to do by them in the context of this crisis is to take these 200 children into Ireland and ensure they are properly looked after and that they are given the opportunity to flourish and to cherish the great county we have. All of those people will be an asset to Ireland. They are not a burden but an asset. They are what we need. Ireland, above all other countries in the world, has had its people scattered around the globe. Let us do something now to pay back. Let us stand up and say that we will not be found wanting, that we will ensure the Irish people will not be let down by the Government.

I acknowledge the work of the people in the Gallery, one of whom is Mary who spent time in Calais and I have great respect for the work she did with those children. There are also many others - ordinary people from Ireland who went there and did their best. They need us to step up to the mark. The one thing that is stopping this from happening is the Cabinet. The members of Cabinet are the ones who have to make this decision. While we can come in here and talk about it, I put it to the Ministers before us that they are the people who can make this happen. They have the choice to ensure that they put it to the French Government that we will take these people now. While many of these people say that they want to go to Britain because they are English speaking, they want to go to any English speaking country. They will come here if we make it open and welcome for them to come here.

I started my contribution by referring to the past and what happened during the past few decades when we have taken refugees into Ireland, but we have to look past that. We can deal with this crisis but there is no point in dealing with it if over the next few years we do not ensure that refugees who come to this country are dealt with in a much more appropriate manner than they have been dealt with up to now.

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