Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned that 1,389 people are staying in hotels and guest houses while their applications for international protection are being processed. We have a problem in the direct provision centres with people who have been granted international protection not moving on because of the shortage in the housing system. What is the Government's plan to provide further accommodation for the increasing number of people coming and seeking asylum? We have obviously had difficulties in establishing direct provision centres as we saw in Oughterard this week. We need to be careful. We have generally dealt well with the issue of immigration. It is apparent that some people from outside the country are opportunistically going to places such as Oughterard for the purposes of drumming up a racist agenda. We need to be careful that we do not allow their populist and racist appeal to spread in the country. One way to ensure that does not happen is by the Government having a clear plan in place to ensure people seeking asylum are accommodated in the future.

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