Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

Provision of Accommodation and Ancillary Services to Applicants for International Protection: Statements

 

5:00 pm

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

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this important debate which is timely as it is important that the House have a debate about the issues concerning direct provision which, unfortunately, have very much been in the news for negative reasons in recent times. It is also important to have a general debate on migration into the country. It is not something we usually debate, but it is important that we debate it. Politicians have a significant responsibility in this area, not just in respect of direct provision but also in respect of the issue of immigration in general. Unfortunately, the population at large has limited information on the international protection system. As the Minister said, when limited information is available to the public at large, those who want to stir up trouble will use the absence of information to pursue their own agenda and for their own political advantage.

On the issue of migration in general, in 1840 the population of the island of Ireland was over 8 million. Today it is about 6.5 million. The country has gone through a remarkable transformation in the past 170 years when we consider how it was transformed from being a destitute, impoverished, agriculture-based country into what it is today. It is still a post-colonial country, but we have established independence which has been a success. Although the vast majority are not wealthy, the country is wealthier than the vast majority of countries. That has consequences for us, very many of which are to our advantage.

In the past 170 years the country was plagued by emigration. Families were torn apart, with children having to leave the country to gain employment. They were economic migrants who went all around the world. We have also seen this happen in more recent times. As a result of the economic collapse about ten years ago, people were forced out of the country. It is a tragedy to see people leaving. However, as this becomes a wealthier country, we need to recognise that more people will want to come here. Our membership of the Single Market has transformed the level of wealth of the country. Since the 1960s we have moved on a different economic path, but our membership of the Single Market from the early 1990s transformed the country and made this a much more competitive economy and a more attractive place for people to come to. For that reason, many people from other European Union countries come to work here. As we have seen to a large extent with Polish people who have come here, many of them will go back to the country from whence they came after they establish themselves here. One of the great benefits of the European Union is that it helps countries to move up.

This debate is about something different from the migration that occurs within the Single Market. We are, as the Minister outlined, discussing the international protection regime. It should be brought to the attention of the public that we have international obligations. Even if we did not have such obligations, we would still want to ensure Ireland was a place to which people who were being persecuted could come. They should be able to arrive in the country in the knowledge that they would receive protection from the State because of the respect we had for sheltering people suffering from persecution. People who are departing countries where they are being persecuted do not necessarily have to travel to an impoverished country as a port of first call. If we were leaving this country for reasons of persecutio, we would not choose to move to a country where our chances of having a better life would not be that strong. We know that under the Dublin convention, when people arrive in a European Union country, they must claim international protection in the first place they land. Obviously, because it is the most peripheral country in the European Union based on where the people who are migrating are coming from, to a large extent, Ireland will not face the large numbers of people who are seeking international protection as other countries in the European Union. However, those who arrive here as their port of first call are entitled to seek international protection. As the Minister said, many people say they believe the direct provision system is inhumane and abhorrent and that we should get rid of it, but we need to bring to the attention of the public at large that when somebody arrives in this country - for instance, this month 300 people will arrive in our ports and claim international protection - we have an immediate obligation to provide him or her with shelter, accommodation and sustenance. Unfortunately, the reality is that we are unable to immediately provide them with accommodation in houses or apartments.

We would create huge social upheaval if Irish people saw that people who came in from outside would immediately be housed whereas people on the housing list here have to wait years to get accommodation. We need to have a system in place to provide people accommodation. We have seen this issue develop over the past 20 years. A legitimate criticism of the Government is that it has not prepared adequately for the increasing number of people coming here, which was apparent to anyone looking at this issue. Let us keep the numbers in proportion and realistic as last year, 3,600 people arrived in Ireland seeking international protection. This year, I suspect the number will hit 4,000.

When people arrive here we have an obligation both to give them shelter and accommodation and to process their applications. One reason for the problem in this country is that when people arrive, they stay too long in direct provision centres because their applications are not being processed quickly enough by the Government. We need to speed that up. People go to the international protection office, then they are entitled to go to the international appeals office and sometimes there are judicial reviews. One way of speeding this up would be not to have the perennial delay caused by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, in refusing to appoint judges, which would enable us to have these matters dealt with quickly. I and other Members of this House visited direct provision centres last June and July. For people who are there for the long term, over a year, they are unfair and inhumane. If people could be kept in direct provision for a short period and have their applications processed quickly, they could move on into a hopefully functioning housing market and there would be no difficulty. In every country in Europe, people are initially kept in reception accommodation areas. There is no way out of that.

The State, however, needs to up its game in several particular areas. We need more State accommodation. It is farcical that the State is travelling around the highways and byways of Ireland looking for old hotels to see if they can be converted into direct provision centres. We need to recognise that this is going to be a long-term issue, that we need to provide State accommodation and we should be building our own accommodation or using State accommodation for people seeking international protection. Mr. Justice McMahon recommended that in 2015, when he produced his report on this matter. If we do not do that, people will continue to look for emergency accommodation in hotels. If we are going to go around the country looking for locations and if we are going to avail of accommodation in hotels, we need to provide local communities with information about it. Part of the reason is that people in Ireland are very fearful of change. No matter what the change is, they fear it. If it is explained to them and if they see other centres and how they have worked so effectively, they will lose that fear of change and adopt this and recognise the benefits of it. We also need to recognise that there have been great successes when direct provision centres have been started up in towns.

We also need to engage more with the public at large. There are many who want to help people seeking international protection and we should recognise that and see how they can be used to provide accommodation on a smaller scale. I condemn the intimidation that has been meted out to individuals who have sought to engage with the Department of Justice and Equality to provide direct provision centres in hotels or accommodation that they own. That intimidation and harassment has happened. We need to be very careful about it. We need to unite in this House to say that type of behaviour is unacceptable. We also need to state bluntly that there is a level of racism in this. We cannot get away from that. I am not saying it is emanating from local communities, there are people who try to stir it up, but it exists. We need to inform people that they have nothing to fear from new people coming in, just as other communities around the world benefited enormously by our ancestors arriving on their lands.

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