John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the statements and I know the Minister will sum up at the end. I reiterate some of the points made and the first is that we as an Oireachtas should acknowledge that movement has finally been made. Some of the movement may be seen by some as being in the realm of the ideal, but the fact is that commitments were placed in the programme for Government on a matter that has been hanging around for well over a decade and a half. We all know the issues and the inhumane aspects of the process. Some of us have got a tiny glimpse of what it has been like, as one of the previous speakers mentioned, in being locked down and having freedoms corralled to some degree. It might give us some inkling into what life would be like in direct provision with a restriction on our freedom; it in no way gives a window into the daily reality of lives for people.

I agree with Deputy Bruton, who raised the question of capacity across government and particularly as it relates to housing. I particularly welcome the movement expressed in the programme for Government and the White Paper to try to accommodate people as quickly as possible. I have a simple question: is that accommodation commitment to be incorporated to the budget of the Minister's Department or will it be taken from the Department dealing with housing? Capacity is connected to the question of exposure to right wing views that can exploit the sensitivities of people. The Minister knows it. There are some people on housing lists in my constituency for more than a decade and we have started to make some small inroads on that. We should be conscious of how Covid-19 has affected the construction industry and we should avoid Irish people making a claim that they are being excluded from housing as a result of the accommodation of people going through the direct provision system. The two systems must be seen to be separate but complementary. One budget should not have an impact on the other. This is really where the rubber hits the road. People should be drawn from completely different lists so as not to affect other lists in any shape or form.

One of the problems with Covid-19 is the bandwidth of the public's imagination and ability to take in stuff is so clouded by virus and vaccine matters that much of the really positive action by the Government over a short period may be lost sight of. There will be a need to revisit this again to reinforce the fact that there is a commitment now, for the first time in a decade and a half, by a new Government. The make-up of that new Government is clearly intrinsic to the change, as it did not happen in the previous decade. That should not be lost on the public or the messaging around this.

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