Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The importance of a well-resourced and co-ordinated approach to asylum and integration has been strongly reinforced since we discussed this fund in February. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis, with millions of displaced people. We can be proud of the speedy response from people in the State. Whole communities have mobilised to provide assistance and recent Ukrainian arrivals have already started to contribute and work.

The challenge for the Government is to pivot from an emergency response to a long-term integration plan. Too often, immediate solutions become permanent problems. Direct provision was supposed to be a temporary process but, more than 21 years later, that inhumane system remains. Many Ukrainian families are in student accommodation or hotels with short contracts. What happens when those spaces are no longer available? Regrettably, the Department is not moving quickly enough on offers of accommodation and potential sites for use.

Confusion and misinformation facilitate those who want to stoke xenophobia and far-right ideologies. Unfortunately, some Members of this House are playing the old card of attempting to pitch vulnerable groups against each other. Linking refugees and the housing crisis is a spurious and insincere argument. The housing disaster is a decade old and is the result of failed policies, primarily from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael but also from the Labour Party and the Green Party, involving a collapse in the building of social housing, leaving homes to fall into disrepair and facilitating vulture funds over families. These are the causes of the housing crisis, not refugees. We have an obligation to be responsible and factual when discussing these issues.

Human trafficking is in the headlines today after the Olympian, Mo Farah, spoke publicly about being trafficked to the UK and forced into servitude. Unfortunately, this abhorrent crime and human rights abuse also happens in Ireland. The US State Department's Trafficking in Persons annual report for 2021 assessed Ireland as being a tier 2 country, which means we do not fully comply with the minimum standards but are making significant efforts to be in compliance.

Even more concerning is that we dropped from being a tier 1 country in 2018 and we are now on what is called a tier 2 watch list because "The government continued to have systemic deficiencies in victim identification, referral, and assistance, and lacked specialised accommodation and adequate services for victims".

These findings are supported by the recent report of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, on the implementation of the EU anti-trafficking directive. It highlights the need for greater co-ordination from the Department of Justice, new mechanisms for the identification of victims, secure gender-specific shelter and avoiding secondary victimisation in the criminal justice system. There have been 475 known cases of trafficking since 2013, including 34 children. Almost two thirds of these are women, with sexual exploitation being a leading cause. Labour exploitation is the most common feature. Crucially, this issue needs a social response. While our criminal law aspects are strong, the systems to assist and support victims remain insufficient and lack a statutory footing. As part of this process, the voices of survivors must be at the centre of the policy, with the establishment of dedicated survivor counselling, as recommended by IHREC.

I urge the Government to use the fund to work on the issues identified by the commission, the US State Department and others to support victims and survivors. This issue of prioritising where to spend money relates to my larger reservations regarding AMIF. One of the fund’s objectives is to contribute to countering irregular migration and ensuring the effectiveness of return and readmission in third countries. Embedded in the EU's response are hostile processes and structures that facilitate crime, push vulnerable people into the hands of criminals and lead to deaths, such as the regular drownings in the Mediterranean Sea. These are still happening, even if they do not make the headlines. There needs to be a serious critique of migration management systems in Ireland and the EU and their role in increasing human suffering.

While I welcome any discussion of these important matters, I am unclear regarding the implications of the amendment for Ireland. This is a democratic deficit. My comments are based on the EU’s document, rather than on an understanding of any policy implications. This session, regrettably, is a technical function rather than anything meaningful. The Minister needs to issue policy papers and budget breakdowns before discussions such as this one, if they are to be anything more than tokenism.

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