Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the umbrella group, Raise the Roof, comprised of trade unions, housing and homeless charities, women and Traveller groups, and others, for the excellent work it does on a continuous basis.

I want to speak about the elephant in the room. I do not want this to be twisted or for anyone to say that I am saying anything wrong. The elephant in room is the very sad and tragic situation facing Ukrainian people coming to this country. The Ceann Comhairle visited Ukraine and will appreciate what I am saying. I do not mean to disparage the people coming here. They are coming here out of want and necessity, and it is our duty to help them if we can. We always help people to the best of our ability. Just because I want to talk about it, does not mean anything bad. What it is doing is putting a massive strain on services that were already under pressure.

Thousands of people are after coming here. I am very glad that they have found refuge and are safe and that there are no bombs coming down upon them and their children. That does mean, however, that there is unreal pressure out there at the moment. I have seen people come into clinics who are going into homelessness and into homeless shelters and centres, where they do not want to go but where they have to go. There is a massive lack of availability of housing now, and the fact that we have an uncapped number of people coming here because of the war in Ukraine is, of course, compounding the problem. What I have always stated - and it is in the interest of the people we have - is that we should have a serious debate on capping the numbers. If you cannot help people properly and adequately, you should let them know that. It would be fine if we had endless accommodation. Then I would suggest that as many as possible come here. Why tell people to come here, however, if we will not be able to cater for them? So many people do not have places to go to now that it is a major worry. We have people sleeping in cars who would never have had to do so before. It is just a worry and a problem, and we must have a debate on it.

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