Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister consider that there is good cross-departmental co-operation on this issue? We need the Department of Education to assist and we need the Department of Health to ensure there are enough GPs to provide services.

We have seen horrific protests outside accommodation centres, which should not be happening. If people want to protest, they should do so outside the gates of Leinster House and not outside the doors of places where vulnerable people are living. There are people out there with genuine concerns. We need to see a lot more co-operation across all Departments to ensure that the necessary services are put in place.

In a past life I was a teacher. I taught students from many different parts of the world. Some of them came to Cavan as refugees. They brought a rich diversity to the classroom, they integrated well and we were able to accommodate them. There has been a huge increase in numbers since then and there must be a commensurate increase in resources to ensure there is the capacity to integrate them into our communities because that is the only way forward. School and education is a great way of doing that.

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