Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is disappointing to hear the Government position on this. I do not necessarily take it as being 100% the Minister of State's position on it. He engaged well with this issue but I am sorry to say that for as long as I have been here, his Government's approach has left too much to be desired. It was at the height of the refugee crisis and in spite of the concerns raised by human rights watchdogs such as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission that the previous Fine Gael-Labour Government chose actively to tighten the net on refugees. We should not be putting barriers in their way. I find it a bit disheartening.

In his speech, the Minister of State said that the financial impact of the proposal in the Bill does not really take on board the challenges of the country. It is not an "either or" case. We know the Government should be actively involved in providing housing and facilities for our own people and in many cases is not doing so because it has left it to the private sector to supply housing. Obviously, housing would have to be supplied if we allowed people into the country but the numbers are so small and this Bill only deals with dependents so they would not be moving into a different house but would be living with their families if their families had found a place here. It does not stack up. I find it mad that this money message prevents just about any Opposition position nowadays because if we want to make improvements very often they do cost money. Where is the joined-up thinking? I wish the Government was as concerned about the absolute scandal in NAMA, probably the biggest financial scandal in the history of this State. Over €20 billion has gone missing because of how NAMA has handled its affairs and nobody wants to hold it to account.

In the light of that, we are worried about the cost of a few relatives, family members, brothers or sisters coming who belong to families have been put through the throes of war. It is not as though we had nothing to do with it. We still allow Shannon Airport to be used as a US military base. The Minister of State does not want to talk about Shannon but it is fact. More than 65 million people on the planet are displaced and more than half of them have been displaced because of war. It is nuts.

I admire Trump's honesty. Two weeks ago, he was asked if he should stop selling arms to the Saudis because they were engaged in genocide in Yemen and it really was not on that the Americans would continue to supply them with arms. Trump said he was not sure about that. He said the Saudis would buy arms from the Russians or the Chinese. He said there were tens of thousands of jobs at stake in the arms that are going to the Saudis. It is the same argument that is used here for allowing Shannon to be used as a military base. People talk about the jobs it brings in and we are told that we cannot be frightening them away.

I was picked on by a fellow in Ennis once after I got over the fence in Shannon. He told me to stay out of that place because he sells sandwiches there. I am not supposed to be highlighting the fact that it is being used as a military base to allow the Americans to go and bomb the living daylights out of countries and create refugees who then try and come across the Mediterranean to get here with great difficulty. You would not be well.

The Minister of State spoke about the UN and said it was not some western power. I do not know if Deputy Clare Daly mentioned a western power. I wish the UN was a really independent body but, sadly, the UN, whether we like it or not, for all practical purposes is a puppet of the western powers today. That is the truth.

In 2011, Obama wanted regime change in Yemen because the guy there, Saleh, was not able to implement neoliberal policies across the country quickly enough for America's liking. They threw him out and put in their own fellow, Hadi. The internationally recognised government of Yemen is ruled by an American puppet, supported by the Saudis and the UN. Two years ago, when Yemen was being destroyed by the Saudis, with support from the US, UK and France, the UN told us almost 10,000 people were dead. It was the same the following year, and the year after that. They said again this year that only 10,000 were killed. What are they like?

The 2015 Act imposed a tight timeframe of one year within which applications for family reunification can be made. The one-year timeframe has made it extremely difficult for applicants. They have to apply within 12 months of being granted status. Many applications fail due to the tragic fact that it is extremely difficult to locate family members left behind in war zones within this restrictive timeframe.

Deputy Clare Daly and I know a refugee from Afghanistan. His father and brother were killed and he has refugee status in Ireland now. He does not know where his mother and sisters are. How can he make reunification happen? How can the Irish State do it for him within the time restrictions? I do not think it can. His story is not an isolated one.

I really hope there will be serious consideration given to what we discussed yesterday. I really believe the Government will have to look at other countries and not just prioritise Syria and Eritrea. As I said to the Minister yesterday, more than 1.5 million people have returned to Syria now that things are normalising somewhat again and the government is actually getting control of the place. They are getting rid of the jihadists who were mostly funded by the US, Israel and the Saudis. Unfortunately we have not been told the truth about Syria very much. On much of the news, even on RTÉ, they used to quote the White Helmets and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as if they were independent entities. We eventually found out they are being funded by the Americans and the Brits, so the news outlets quote them less often now. The message was not a true message but it suited them. You would not be well looking at some of the Syrian groups on Twitter. They obviously have an agenda in how they portray what is going on over there. Some terrible things have happened, there is no doubt about it, but terrible things are happening in other places too.

It would be good if Ireland had a more open-door policy and took in a lot more people. The numbers we are talking about are pathetically low. The notion that Ireland could not handle 10,000 or 20,000 refugees is ridiculous. The population of Gorey increases fourfold in the summer. Gorey has a population of around 5,000 and it becomes about 20,000 in the summer. It manages. We are not talking about taking in 10,000 or 20,000 refugees and putting them all in the one place. There were 8 million people in this country when the Famine came in 1847. There is plenty of room for people in Ireland. We are not a densely populated country. We just need the will to help people that need and deserve it. God knows the Irish went all over the planet when they needed help, needed to work and needed to break out of poverty themselves. We need a warmer reception for these people.

See this speech in context