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

I am also glad to speak on this issue. AMIF was set up for the period from 2021 to 2027 and funding amounts to €9.9 billion. The fund aims to further boost national capacities and improve procedures for migration management, as well as enhance solidarity and responsibility sharing between member states, particularly those providing emergency assistance.

Since 2017, nearly 100,000 men, women and children have been intercepted at sea by coastguard vessels supported by EU surveillance and forcibly returned to Libya, a failed state. They are often locked up in detention centres that have been compared to concentration camps by Pope Francis among others. Politicians and officials who hold the levers of power know what is happening. They know it is horrific but are unwilling to act.

I have spoken before about direct provision in this country and the way it has been rolled out. I know there is an excellent centre in Clonakilty where people are treated humanely and with a bit of respect. I thank those in Clonakilty who are both living and working there. There have been other direct provision centres over the years that have been nothing short of shocking.

If people are in trouble and are coming from a war-torn country, we should by all means give them a welcome in Ireland but there have to limits set, especially if they are being treated disrespectfully when they come to this country. We do not have the facilities for a huge number of people. Unfortunately, it has been proven in the past that the management in direct provision centres has placed large numbers of families in a single bedroom or similar, which was not fair to those people.

Perhaps this fund will be used to rectify many of those issues. If that happens, well done but there a lot left to be desired. Not all of the Ukrainians who have come to this country have been treated well and that will need to be addressed. They need to be treated with the utmost respect.

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