Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputies Gino Kenny and Boyd Barrett. I will make a couple of comments on the opening speeches from the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, both of whom focused heavily on the role of the European Union, the great European Union we have, the shared agenda and co-operation in dealing with what they see as a Europe-wide problem. Indeed, we have many problems across the globe but those of us in the First World have far fewer than the people who are fleeing war, famine and climate-related disasters. I thought it really disgraceful when crocodile tears were shed over the earthquake which had just happened in Syria and Türkiye while the summit itself was dominated by a drive to strengthen fortress Europe and to look at ways to batten down the hatches and tighten up all of the borders. The summit approved another €500 million in military aid for Ukraine, which can be compared with the €6.5 million in emergency humanitarian assistance for Syria and Türkiye.

This tells us that the powers that be in the European Union have three real priorities. The first is to make their own people pay for the crisis in their economies. They are making working people pay for inflation by pushing up interest rates and pushing wages down. The second is to pour weapons into Ukraine to defeat their Russian rivals and to use all resources to do so. Their third priority is to close borders to migrants and refugees. This is not helpful and does not show a Europe of solidarity. Rather it shows a Europe with its ostrich head in the sand, unlike the Europe portrayed by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste earlier on. This did not start with the earthquake. Going way back to 2019, there was a programme to return all migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Libya, where they faced death camps and discrimination and where Amnesty International has reported arbitrary detention, torture, cruelty, rape, sexual violence, extortion, forced labour and unlawful killings. The EU paid for people to be forced into all of this in that stateless country.

The EU has a lot to answer for but let us come to the answers this Government needs to give, which relate to the housing and health crises. We are recording the highest ever figures for homelessness and yet we expect everyone to sit back and say there is not a problem when people are coming into the country. The only people who do not recognise the problem are the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the people opposite me today. Successive governments have created problems in healthcare, in childcare and particularly in housing. These problems are feeding into the myths, lies and hatred being spread by the far right. The Government keeps burying its head in the sand at both EU and national level. Unless it owns up to these problems, we cannot work together to deal with this is a reasonable manner. In other words, we have to get rid of the Government and get a new government that will deal with these problems and face the truth.

The people of this country are extremely welcoming and decent. We understand, as a people, what it is like to seek sanctuary and safety. Our history of emigration is part of our DNA. In the past three decades we have been enriched by inward migration leading to multiculturalism. As we go around Dublin now, we see people from all over the world which is brilliant. It is a good thing. However, a small number of people in our society are trying to foment fear, misinformation and hostility. Their rhetoric is dangerous and designed to be incendiary. They want to blame migrants, those who are seeking sanctuary and safety, for the housing crisis and it is clearly not their fault. It is clearly not the fault of immigrants. It is the fault of successive governments' housing policies.

This poison cannot be allowed to seep into communities. It is absolutely insidious and must be resisted at all costs. On Saturday, we will see a march of solidarity that promotes Ireland for all, to celebrate diversity and reject division and hatred by a small minority of people in this country. That is the Ireland I love and the one the vast majority of people love. That is the Ireland we want. We want inclusivity. We want diversity. We want people welcomed. We do not want hate and division.

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