Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

11 o’clock

In 1973, when Ireland joined the Common Market, every denomination and race was to be treated equally in Ireland. I wonder if the Irish were treated in this way all over the world. Have we now become so politically correct that we are going to knock down our statues and sculptures and erase our history? The next thing we know our books will be burned to censor our history, culture and religion. What is happening worldwide is chaotic. Protesting during a pandemic is simply dangerous. People are killing and hurting each other. Is the world gone mad?

Racism is simply wrong and it must never be tolerated. As a rural politician, I have tried to make my voice heard many times on this issue, having spoken in the Dáil strongly against the way people are being treated in direct provision, living in such congregated settings. When Covid-19 hit, finally it seemed that people had started to listen to what I was saying for many years.

When we were growing up, we were taught by our parents to respect all, whether this be our own in our own country or those who lived throughout the world. Our churches, especially the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland, raised tens of millions of pounds at the time for people in Peru and Ethiopia through Trócaire or whatever means were required. Almost every second Sunday in the churches in Lowertown, Goleen, Schull and Ballydehob, all the parishioners were delighted to contribute to better the lives of those who struggled abroad and no one stands up here today and thanks the churches for doing this. All too often, people find it easier to point the finger at the churches. There was no mention of racism when I was growing up. People only gave as much as they could afford in order to help others. This was done with a heart and a half and it continues today, unacknowledged.

My proposal is simple. Our rural communities are crying out for new families to come and live in them, in the many vacant houses that are there in towns and villages. This is where a rural resettlement programme should have been launched and should be launched, where at least two families in direct provision should be given the chance to live in every rural community in our country. If this was to happen, it would provide a happy home for those in direct provision. It would restart the process of rebuilding rural communities that have incredible facilities for all to enjoy and that would support inclusion and combat racism by integrating the people in direct provision into the local communities in a non-forceful manner.

The fundamental human right to dignity is inviolable in EU law and must be upheld, irrespective of the nationality or immigration status of the person. Let us not forget the Irish people who are homeless or living in hotel rooms with children squashed in like sardines, just like people in direct provision centres. This too is wrong. If the proposals we made four years ago when the programme for Government was being drawn up had been listened to, thousands of people who are in hotel rooms today could be living in rural towns and villages. They too need to be afforded the same rights as every other race and denomination. My mantra in life has always been that all lives matter, from the unborn baby in the womb to the man and woman on the street, black or white. All lives matter. Dignity, respect and a little bit of humanity would go a long way in this Covid-19 world we all find ourselves in.

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