Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult when in the middle of a crisis or a very difficult situation not to have a sense of being overwhelmed by it, or not to feel it will never end or that it is hard to see how it will be resolved. We are in that at the moment. As the Tánaiste said, the change that is happening across Europe because of the war and also in the wider world is unprecedented, with the movement of people to and from Europe in ways that are very hard to manage. As a people, more than any other, we know that movement has always happened. This is not the first time in the world that people have arrived on a shore and not felt welcome or where there was a sense of "We are full up". "No Irish need apply" was used in living memory. We know what it is like to be the subject of abuse, jokes, derision, threats and violence. We know that; it is not something new. However, the scale of what has happened in the last year is unprecedented in our lifetime.

The simple figures mentioned by both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste bear repeating. At the beginning of 2022, the State was managing, accommodating, welcoming and looking after some 8,000 people who had come here seeking refuge. Now, barely a year later, there are 78,000 people for whom we have to do that. That is an unprecedented tenfold increase in one year. We have 58,000 Ukrainian people who are in flight from the most savage of wars, as we all understand, and we are accommodating some 20,000 people seeking international protection.

For Ireland, international law and the rights under international law are important. We are a small country. We stand by the UN Declaration of Human Rights - I saw it only this morning as it is framed in the corridor on the first floor of Government Buildings – and our UN flag flies at the entrance to Government Buildings. I think all parties in this House share a common understanding that our country, a small country which has always stood by the United Nations and the League of Nations, knows that the rights that come with such international order have to be protected.

This is a crisis that is not going to be immediately resolved. We know there are still some 1,200 people a week coming into our country, the majority, or about 1,000, fleeing Ukraine and about 200 coming for international protection. I understand from the Taoiseach’s attendance at the European Council’s special meeting last Thursday that the message was that this is unlikely to change in the immediate future. This war is not likely to end soon and it is more likely to go to a more brutal level of intensity in the coming months.

We are not alone in this. Every single European country, some perhaps to a lesser extent, has opened its doors and we will have to keep those doors open. We have done a remarkable job. I agree with the Taoiseach that, in time, we will look back at our ability to respond. Some 720 contracts have been signed with accommodation providers to provide some 43,000 beds in hotels, hostels and self-catering accommodation, and over 6,500 Irish homes have been offered to people coming here – 6,530 to be precise. As of 4 February, 1,198 had been accommodated under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's Offer a Home scheme. We should recognise, salute, celebrate and thank all those people in hotels, homes and community centres the length and breadth of this country.

Is my speaking time limited?

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