Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

To see children being forcibly separated from parents and guardians and put in cages like animals and hear their cries for help was shocking. How anyone could defend it is beyond me. The actions taken, and the accompanying rhetoric from the American President and his defenders in politics, public life and the American media, are an indication that that society has morally lost its way. The defenders of this practice have sought to normalise it in the way people sought to normalise fascism in pre-war Europe, but it is not only in America where we are seeing a decent into nativism and xenophobia and a rise in fascism.

In recent weeks we saw a betrayal of what could be described as core European values when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants and refugees on board was turned away from numerous European countries. In Italy we saw the far right government launching an attack on migrants and now on the Roma people. The Hungarian Government has submitted a proposal for a tax on an organisation that supports or portrays migration positively. Only two weeks ago in London we saw xenophobes and hate filled racists rioting in support of Tommy Robinson. That the media normalise this behaviour and its proponents had their establishment defenders in politics should be a warning to us all. Such normalisation has also happened in this state. The well known right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins appeared on "The Late Late Show", while the American right-wing commentator Ann Coulter has appeared on Today FM. The Irish Times published an alt-right article by Nicholas Pell. That is how fascism was normalised, how minds are manipulated and how evil grows.

I cannot criticise America without rightly criticising the direct provision system. It is abhorrent and should be dismantled. Those who established it should apologise to the people whose lives they have destroyed. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland estimates that mental health problems are up to five times higher among those living in direct provision accommodation than in the wider community. Mothers have tried to have their children placed in care to get them out of direct provision centres. While we are right to criticise what is happening in America, we need to get our own house in order. I reiterate that every party that has supported the direct provision system or failed to act on it should apologise to the people whose lives they have destroyed.

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