Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I do not agree with anything he said, except for the fact that he is right that what happened on Saturday night was absolutely wrong. Like him, I have condemned it.

The Government has made an unprecedented investment in communities, for example through SICAP, through investment in communities the length and breadth of the country and through the Department of Rural and Community Development. To say that there has been no investment in communities is wrong. We have addressed childcare, in particular childcare costs. There are many other issues. We have full employment in this country. Never before have so many people been working. We have invested in many areas.

The policies we have implemented have paid off in terms of our economy. There are pressures and there will always be challenges. Providing the accommodation we need for all of the people that are coming into this country is a challenge we face. There are people coming in every single day. We are doing everything we can to deal with the pressures and provide more accommodation.

As the Deputy knows, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will provide additional accommodation in a number of locations across the country. He hopes to announce offers of accommodation by the end of the week for international production applicants. I know it is difficult for communities. We are asking a lot of them. I understand their concerns. We need communities to work with us. When we work together as a country, we get great results. We worked together through Covid and came out of it better and stronger. We need to work together to deal with the challenges we currently face. People are coming to this country and are looking for asylum, help and support. We want to give them that. We will continue to work together as a Government right across Government. This is not just down to one Minister; we are all working together to try to find solutions and bring forward accommodation so that we can have a roof over people's heads as quickly as possible.

As I said, by the end of this week further accommodation will come on stream. I ask the people out there who have concerns to please work with us. We will continue to engage with them through local authorities and the Government.

See this speech in context