Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate. It is notable that of all the senior Ministers who spoke earlier, the only written speech that was circulated was from the Taoiseach. That is significant for such a serious topic. I totally agree with what the Taoiseach said towards the end of his speech:

We should all stand together against fear, hate and conspiracy theories. We should do so on a non-partisan and non-ideological basis, a nation standing together against racism.

I absolutely agree with him. However, he gives double messages, as all the senior Ministers have given. He said, "As Taoiseach, I believe we should welcome and protect those who come to these shores legitimately [because that is the best] way of honouring our national story". What does that mean? What does "legitimately" mean? My understanding is that people are entitled to come here to seek asylum and there is a process. I will come back to that. He made another statement:

It means being firm with those who come here with a false story or under false pretences. Criminal gangs should never decide who enters our country. That is for us to decide, not human traffickers.

A double message is being given here. I pay tribute to the work of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. He has done his best in a very difficult situation, with over 70,000 people arriving from Ukraine, not to mention the other countries. I thank him for his work but I do not think there has been a co-ordinated response. That captures the double-speak that is coming out. The Government keeps telling us that the people on this side of the House, supposedly on the left, are adding to the fear but quite the opposite is happening. There is an onus on the Government to stop the use of this language. The Minister has not used it but he is in government with those who have used it. It is nothing short of shocking.

The Irish Refugee Council has shared its concerns in this regard. It has written to the Government and pointed out its concerns to us. On the term "legitimate", it tells us that somebody arriving without a legitimate basis has to be processed. The Government is setting up false arguments and false fears on top of the most serious problems relating to housing and health. We have spoken about this repeatedly from the first day I came into the Dáil in February 2016. Housing was a major issue then. Now on top of that we are allowing for division with some people saying "they get everything". Let me look at that claim. This has already been referred to by a Sinn Féin Deputy and the Irish Refugee Council has given out the facts and figures. An asylum seeker has no entitlement to social housing or to be on the social housing waiting list. An asylum seeker has no entitlement to children's allowance. It has gone through all the myths that have been perpetuated to show they are not accurate. I am glad the Minister is nodding his head but unfortunately, those above him are not nodding their heads. They are giving mixed messages. I cannot say it often enough. What is happening here is dangerous. There are genuine concerns on the ground about the housing crisis and health. I was sickened to my core to hear a group of people shouting "out, out, out" at a direct provision centre. That anger should be directed at the Government if people are unhappy with it, which I am, but they should not be shouting "no, no, no" outside such places.

I have had the privilege of going to Canada on a regular basis as I have family over there. My older brother never tires of telling me that back in Black '47, which might appear a long time ago but is still very much in our heads, Toronto had 20,000 people. Into the shores of the lake came 38,560 Irish people, almost double the population of Toronto. It was the worst year for Irish people and they were welcomed. We are here now with a background of direct provision and we have a two-tier system. The Minister knows that and he justifies it by saying it is an EU directive. Somebody from Ukraine does not have to go through the same process as others.

Of course the war is deplorable. I have deplored it on record and I am not going to waste my valuable few minutes on it. Ireland has a different role here. We are a neutral country. We should give all the humanitarian help we can but we are a neutral country and not one Government speaker spoke today about the need to use our voice to stop this mad war. It is just utterly mad. Now on top of that we have a divisive policy that says "Ukrainian refugees good, give them every possible help" but "Refugees or asylum seekers from anywhere else, put them through the wringer". That is what we are doing. The Minister knows we are doing that. We are doing it on the basis of all his good work.

We had the White Paper and prior to that we had the Catherine Day report. Prior to that, we had the McMahon report. Bryan McMahon pointed out that the biggest problem among many problems at that time, and it was a moderate report, was the failure to process applications quickly. Here we are, 22 years after direct provision was established, and we are still dividing and conquering and othering people in direct provision, making it extremely difficult for them and allowing myths to develop. I find it deplorable. Of course, direct provision cannot end now. The biggest problem I had with the report from Catherine Day and the White Paper was the failure to recognise, well before the Ukrainian war, that there was a housing crisis. How were we going to end direct provision if they did not recognise that problem? I am one of the advocates for ending direct provision. It is inhuman and wrong.

The White Paper acknowledged that direct provision failed to respect dignity and human rights. We are in agreement about this so let us stop the divisive politics. Let us treat all asylum seekers the same, whether they are from Somalia, Yemen or Afghanistan. Let us treat them the same. Let us rise to our obligations. Equally, let us use our voice to get peace and to deplore this war because at some stage Ukraine and Russia have to negotiate. We have a particular, significant and important role as a neutral country - one of the few left. I make no apology for not joining the consensus on war. I will not do it. I will not do it ever.

See this speech in context