Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has a history of forced emigration through the brutal occupation of our country and the failure of this State to be able to provide work to generations of young men and women. We all know some were welcomed and others were met with signs that said "No blacks, no dogs, no Irish".

The immigration, refugee and asylum seeker crisis of today is a space we should not be in. The failure to properly accommodate Ukrainian refugees and international protection asylum seekers lies firmly at the door of the Government. Last year the Taoiseach, then Tánaiste, said 200,000 Ukrainian refugees were potentially coming here in 2022. About 70,000 have come for sanctuary and have been hugely welcomed by the people of Ireland. I commend Empower in my constituency, Dublin West, for all the work it has done around integration and supports. However, it has become clear that the Government has utterly failed to deal with even that number. A year down the line, there is still no strategy to deal with this in the short to medium term. There is now panic in the Government that we could have over 11,000 refugees who are currently in hotels left without accommodation in the coming weeks and months. There has been a whole year to plan, organise and ensure we have a plan for refugees, yet the message from the Cabinet meeting was described as grim because there is no place for them. What do we have instead of a well thought-out plan and strategy? We have a Minister publicly writing to those with whom he sits around the Cabinet table every week to beg for help.

We need to address the issue of those seeking international protection and, I hope, deal with some of the misinformation being spread by those who wish to spread fear and hate in our communities. I point people to the recent fact check sheet released by the Irish Refugee Council. It is an excellent point of reference for those who wish to seek the facts. A substantial number of people in our communities are asking legitimate questions about how and where people will be accommodated. What supports are being put in place to support those in buildings? What support is there for communities in which international protection asylum seekers are being placed? How will it impact on health and social provision? How will they get those supports? How will their communities be supported with policing and community safety? These are legitimate questions in areas the Government has failed again and again to deal with. It has failed to properly communicate with communities. To this day, there is no confidence anything will change in the Department. This has allowed lies and misinformation to flourish on social media.

Social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok have failed to uphold what would be seen as decent standards. I appeal to those in my community who have concerns and fears to check out the facts. They should check out what they are being told, who is feeding them these lines and ask in whose interest it is that fear and misinformation be spread. I have reported several threatening videos and posts and not once have they been taken down. These companies have a strange and twisted view of what they call "community standards". It is time to commit to communicating properly with communities and ensuring appropriate accommodation is provided for those who need it. We need to plan in the medium to long term for that accommodation, for supports and wraparound services for those who are seeking asylum and refuge and for those communities that are already under pressure. We must remember a lot of these centres are put in working-class communities that are already under massive pressure. We need a campaign of factual information to be put in place and for social media companies to be held to account for allowing lies, misinformation and threatening videos and posts on their platforms. We have all seen those videos and seen the threats against Teachtaí Dála from across the political spectrum. Those companies must be held to account, in particular.

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