Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely right that people should stand up against racism. We are working on a new national anti-racism strategy and will have that quite soon. We will implement it and fund it. However, I do not think that anyone should use an anti-racism campaign to promote a particular political party or particular ideology and I do not think that should be done. I will keep on saying that whether the Deputy likes it or not. As I have always said, I believe migration has been a good thing for Ireland. It has been good for our economy, good for our public services and it has helped to enrich our culture as well but people do want migration to be managed properly. There is nothing wrong with people wanting migration to be managed properly. That means being fair with refugees who come here from abroad fleeing war and making sure they get the protection that they deserve, and having legal pathways to migration. A total of 40,000 work permits issued last year to people coming here as economic migrants legally but it does mean being firm with the minority of people whose stories are not true and who come here on false pretences, telling them that their application will be processed quickly and refused, and that they will be returned. There is nothing wrong with that and if the Deputy thinks that nobody should be returned home, even if their story is false, he should be honest about that.

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