Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I begin by wishing the Taoiseach well. We have had no run-ins and we were always constructive. Hopefully, today will be no different and I will try to remain constructive. Some 100 years after the birth of the Irish Free State, this Chamber, which sits at the heart of our democracy, should be a forum in which Members are free to discuss issues which are of grave concern to the people we are here to represent. I would hope that we could do so in a sensitive but robust manner and that our Parliament can avoid becoming a place where there are unspoken rules that discourage certain questions being asked and where groupthink or complicity in silence becomes the order of the day.

For an increasing number of people, one of the issues that is demanding of more serious and frank levels of open debate is that of immigration, its impact on housing, health care and education and the apparent dysfunctionality that surrounds our entire asylum application process. As policy issues, these must be treated like every other area, where a clear assessment of successes and failures can be discussed honestly. They cannot and must not become no-go areas in our political discourse. Unfortunately, that is what appears to be happening.

Every time my Independent colleague in the Seanad, Senator Keogan, tries to speak on these issues, she is shouted down. If I or my Rural Independent Group colleagues try to raise concerns we are accused absurdly and ridiculously of trying to tear apart the fabric of social cohesion. Yet what we are saying has inevitably proved correct.

Like many others, I am deeply concerned about the pressure and the anger that is building up in communities relating to the way in which the State has chosen to house those seeking international protection. I am more than alarmed that despite our obvious capacity deficits and the scale of the emergency, hundreds of applicants were still in tented accommodation until a few days ago, in freezing temperatures. We are at the tipping point of a real and profound social catastrophe. The rate of people entering the country from states and areas designated as safe by the EU is increasing by hundreds of percent in some cases. Our hotels are at maximum capacity. Our emergency accommodation is beyond breaking point. Our own homeless numbers are breaking records. Yet still there seems to be no plan to press the pause button.

The key point here is that we need sustainable solidarity. What we have at present is not sustainable. We need a system that is not burdened to the point of collapse yet that is what we have. We have to adopt a new approach. We have to press pause. It is a painful but obvious truth that we must recognise. Does the Taoiseach agree?

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