Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can assure the Deputy at the outset that one letter is a moment in time but everybody in government, across every Government Department and every State agency, is supporting the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in the incredible challenge of trying to find accommodation, including in my own two Departments. All student accommodation is being offered again during the summer period to help people. The Department of Justice is offering the Thornton Hall site. We have managed to provide shelter to tens of thousands of people by everybody putting their shoulder to the wheel.

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak today on the issue of services for those seeking refuge in Ireland at what is a critical juncture for discussion on this issue. We are currently living through the greatest humanitarian crisis. I believe this country has shown extraordinary compassion in our response. We have welcomed over 75,000 Ukrainian people fleeing Russia's brutal illegal war to our country and to communities right across this country. We have given them shelter and protection. They have become part of our schools, colleges and workplaces. Many may go on to make Ireland their home. For those who have arrived and been issued with temporary protection permission, I am pleased to inform that House that today I am confirming that such permission has been extended until March 2024. I hope that this will provide some semblance of certainty and security at what is a truly difficult and traumatic time in all of their lives.

That permission has facilitated access to the workforce and to State services and supports for people arriving from Ukraine, uncertain as to what the future may bring. They are people who have had to flee their homeland because of this war. We see this in my other Department, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, where Ukrainian people are enrolling in English-language courses and post-leaving certificate courses, Springboard+ courses. They are completing Safe Pass training courses, among so many others, to gain education and to find employment. There is absolutely no doubt that this war has put pressure on us as a State, as it has with so many others, particularly when it comes to accommodation. However, it is absolutely the right thing to do.

It is the morally right thing to do, we are obligated to do it and I believe the majority of Irish people share that view. Ireland is a fair and compassionate country. We are a country that prides itself on being the land of céad míle fáilte. We believe in doing the right thing.

Each year, 60,000 people from non-EU countries study in Ireland. As the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, knows, tens of thousands of people come to our country to work and to help provide public and private services each year. We want and need more people to do so. Immigration is a good thing. However, as Minister for Justice, it is my job and the job of my Department to enforce a rules-based system. Every immigration system across the world has rules. I stress that I want those who are eligible for international protection to get it quickly and, equally, I want those who are not eligible to get that answer and be asked to leave the country more quickly. That is what I have turned my focus to.

One of the key steps to deliver this has been new procedures in the International Protection Office to accelerate the process for making a protection application in Ireland. I have heard groups such as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, and migrant rights groups welcome an accelerated process because it provides certainty to people, rather than leaving them to languish in the system. We have committed additional funding of nearly €18 million to hire more staff and to increase efficiency in processing applications. We have, for example, established a faster process for international protection applicants from safe countries of origin. Deputy Martin Kenny was right when he said that anybody from any country has a right to come here or go anywhere else to seek international protection. That is absolutely right. However, it simply makes sense that those from safe countries of origin have a faster and more efficient process. The process is the same but is delivered at an accelerated pace. Applicants still go through the full application process and have all their rights observed. However, it will be much faster. We expect to deliver decisions for these people within three months now, compared to a waiting time of almost two years at the start of 2022. That is real progress and a significant achievement. I thank all the staff in the International Protection Office for driving this change.

Where people are not eligible to be here, we want quick decisions for them too and an effective deportation system. Deportation is a part of any immigration system and deportation orders are an essential part of the system. They have been in place for many years. They were paused during the pandemic but have now resumed. Those who do not have a legal right to remain in this country, having gone through the process, must and should return to their own country. As I said, during the Covid pandemic, we stopped deporting people for public health reasons. When a person is issued a deportation order, he or she is required to remove themselves from the State. The people to whom I speak, including gardaí, are very clear that the majority of people leave the country once they get such a request. There are some who refuse to leave and they are ordered to remove. In 2022, we issued orders to 528 people to remove themselves from the country. A further 160 have been signed since January 2023.

We also want to increase our efforts to prevent those who have no legal entitlement to come to Ireland from doing so. We have stepped up our engagement with air carriers to help them reduce the number of passengers boarding flights without the correct documentation. The points my colleagues have made about the different reasons people might not have correct documentation are fair and true. The situation is complex and we should not suggest it is simply the case that everybody who arrives without documents does so because they could not be bothered to have them. I get that. However, we must also be conscious of the legal obligations on airlines to ensure that people have the correct documentation.

Garda liaison officers will also travel to airports where issues arise in respect of document checking at boarding. I also want to dispel another untruth. We must start to dispel untruths put out there by the far right to stoke fear among communities. The untruths suggest there are no rules, deportation orders or checks. They suggest there is no role for the Garda. That is absolutely wrong. Every single person who claims international protection in our country is fingerprinted. Every single fingerprint is run through watch lists and databases. It is important people know that is the case because we cannot get off the pitch in relation to explaining the rules because otherwise people tell untruths and exploit fears in communities. We have to air these realities. We cannot allow the untruths and falsehoods of the far right to take hold. They thrive on this misinformation and travel from county to county and community to community spreading these untruths to create division and fear. It is essential this House continues to have these conversations and debates. It is right that groups across this House are looking at how we can come together to call this out.

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