Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I asked the Minister of State - I wish him well in his new role - if the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste or he himself had raised the issue of the huge pressure and the weight on our country from our obligations to take in, I think it is now 70,000, and the huge pressure it is putting on our systems. We are not really able to cope, quite clearly. People here have been gallant in opening their homes and community halls and groups, with a sense of meitheal; ní neart go cur le chéile. However, we have to have a pause and a bit of a break to chart out a roadmap. Did the Minister of State raise that with the Europeans or are we all the goody goodies who say to send as many as they want and we will take them? Did they asked for mercy, which is the wrong word, but some breathing space so we can try to source accommodation?

I have a question for the Minister of State, who comes from the Department with responsibility for housing. I meet people daily who have offered properties to local councils. I met one person today in Lisheen in Clonmel offering a fine property with three apartments and dealing with one of the voluntary housing bodies and the council showed no interest in it. It is the same with Lismore which has a hospital that is not used and a number of other derelict buildings. Did they have to take the only hotel they have? It is the same in my own town of Cahir where places are taken over. It is sending out the wrong message. There is a lack of communication. We should bring the people with us. Irish people will not shy from supporting people but we must challenge this.

Why we do not have a word about what is going on in Iran or in Africa where clergymen are being slain and slaughtered, and sometimes Uachtarán na hÉireann decides that it is climate change that caused this? Why do we not raise our voices on these things? The war in Ukraine is horrible, as are all wars, but it is not the only atrocity being carried out. They are horrible atrocities, do not get me wrong, but there are other areas and we seem to forget about them. I do not know what causes this, if it is colour of skin or whatever, but something is causing it that we turn a blind eye and have no interest as Europeans and as Irish people in what goes on there.

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