Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I was very struck by a photograph taken by Niall Carson carried in the Irish edition of the Daily Mailtoday. It shows several asylum seekers leaving Magowna House and walking along a small country road. The caption says they are heading back to Dublin. The men are not lumbered down with many heavy bags. They each have small backpacks and a plastic bag. Their only possessions are crammed into those small bags. It is unclear how they intend to get back to Dublin and it is also unclear where they will stay once they get there. Given they have now left international protection accommodation services, IPAS, accommodation, it is likely they will be forced to sleep rough on the streets.

These people have come to this country with nothing and we are failing them. It did not have to be like this. The manager of Magowna House knew for three months that asylum seekers would be housed there, but nobody else was told. The local community was not told. Local politicians were not told. Not even the Clare Immigrant Support Centre, which has been providing outreach services for refugees for more than 30 years, was told. The Government is presiding over an increasingly chaotic response to this crisis. There are real fears that the shameful and violent scenes we saw in Dublin at the weekend will be repeated. We all know there has been an abject failure to provide emergency accommodation. Two years into this crisis, there is still no strategy to engage with communities housing refugees.

The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, was appointed to his portfolio with responsibility for integration to help with this work. He put together proposals in January 2023 to recruit a team to help with community engagement. It is reported in the Irish Examinertoday, however, that those plans stalled when they were sent to the Department of the Taoiseach. Five months later, that Department is still exploring alternative models of engagement. We still have no communications strategy. The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, was appointed to the integration portfolio to help with this effort, but how can he when his plans are put on hold?

It appears the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, is on his own. At least this is the view of the Green Party. Senator Garvey of the Green Party said on "Morning Ireland" today that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has been "thrown under a bus". There are also reports of increasing tensions between the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Senator Garvey implored people not to play politics with this issue. It appears, though, that the only people playing politics are sitting at the Cabinet table.

Does the Minister, Deputy Harris, agree that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has been thrown under the bus and left to deal with this issue alone? When will the Government publish its communications strategy for local communities housing refugees?

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