Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will follow up on the specific issue of the PPS numbers. I have always recognised that the scale of the challenge and increase in international protection, IP, numbers is putting pressure on the system. One cannot have that number of people arrive in a country in a crisis situation without pressures. There will be times when the system will not work as quickly as it should. I understand that and it causes frustration both for those Ukrainian and international protection applicants who are not receiving services as quickly as they should. It creates frustrations for everybody else as well.

If we look at the situation in Berlin, thousands of people are being housed in tents there, for example, because that is a pressure that is being put on there. I spoke to the Scottish Minister and they are also under very significant pressure there. Scotland is a country which wants to support people, unlike, perhaps, other parts of the United Kingdom. There are and will continue to be pressures and we will continue to work across Government on how best to identify and rectify them as we go on. Where Deputies raise these issues with me, I will do my best to smooth them out.

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