John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will begin my comments with the unequivocal statement that violence and intimidation towards asylum seekers is absolutely and totally unacceptable. It cannot and should not be tolerated in any shape or form. The open intimidation we witnessed over the last while against asylum seekers is completely wrong and must be condemned. The attacks by far right ideologically driven people on vulnerable people in Sandwith Street in Dublin is shameful and completely unacceptable. Attacking and destroying the tents and personal belongings of people who are forced to live in tents on the roadside as a consequence of Government's failures represents a new low. It must be dealt with using the full resources of the criminal justice system.

I find it deeply concerning, however, that the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, has claimed that members of the Garda are concerned that they are not being given or receiving adequate training or direction to deal with the spate of far right-led protests and attacks on asylum seekers. Every community in this State is entitled to have confidence in the rule of law. This cannot be said to be the case if the keepers of the law cannot have confidence in themselves to do their jobs, however. Members of the Garda must be given the training and all resources they require to police this current crisis with confidence. The importance of a balanced and strategic law and order response by the gardaí must be counterbalanced by the reality that a security of response in and of its own will not adequately address the current situation. This is primarily a political problem caused by political failure that requires a political solution. Notwithstanding the fact that the difficulty of finding a political solution is compounded by the ongoing failures of the Government, there are gross underlying issues of community neglect which must be addressed.

The Taoiseach stated that the crisis around securing accommodation for people seeking international protection was a matter that would require the whole of government to resolve. It can certainly be said it is the case that the whole of Government has had a hand in creating the current mess. The Government has failed vulnerable people. It has failed local communities and it has failed the gardaí. The only people who would appear to be satisfied with the performance of the Government to date with regard to the handling of the refugee crisis would appear to be the far right-wing groups intent on creating chaos. While these are nothing more than a small group of individuals intent on exploiting every opportunity through violence and intimidation to attempt to polarise society and create political upheaval, they should not be underestimated. Last year, there were 307 anti-refugee protests across the State with similar numbers taking place so far this year. Their malignant presence needs to be addressed in a thoughtful, considered and strategic manner.

The Government has given international commitments to assist in what is a global problem caused by refugees being displaced by war, socioeconomic instability and climate change. Ireland must honour its international commitments to assist in addressing this crisis. To do so, we must have a workable asylum system. The current system is unworkable. It is unfair to asylum seekers. It takes far too long to process many applications for asylum from individuals. Many asylum seekers are left waiting in limbo for years for decisions on their particular cases. That places huge stress on accommodation in the middle of an accommodation crisis, which has meant that the International Protection Accommodation Services, IPAS, has been forced to find accommodation where it can in hotels, old office blocks and sports halls, and the system continues to overflow.

It is also a fact that it is less-well-off communities that have had to accommodate the vast majority of refugees. From the outset, the Government has failed to deliver on its commitments and responsibilities. At best, it has at times been reacting to events rather than delivering solutions upfront. At its worst, it has completely ignored its commitments and responsibilities. It is very evident that the Government has no plan and that it has absolutely learned zero from its many failures.

I wish to state categorically that it is my belief that nobody has the right to discriminate as to who can and cannot reside within a community, although, arguably, the Government has worsened an already difficult situation through a failure to communicate with the communities in which refugees are being placed. A discourse needs to take place with communities, not to give the right to veto but to inform, explain and collaborate with those communities. The Government must commit resources to communities to assist with large numbers of new people arriving in communities, many of which are already hard-pressed and under-resourced. I will take this opportunity to thank the many volunteers, groups and organisations that have worked with and supported asylum seekers in towns and villages the length and breadth of this State. I take my hat off to them and commend them on all their work.

The Government claims that the problem is not finance but accommodation.

While we readily agree there is a problem with accommodation, this should not be allowed to take attention away from the fact the Government has failed local communities through its failure to put in place resources, particularly in less well-off communities. If those resources had been allocated, much of the confrontation we have witnessed within communities would have been avoided.

The reality is that the fabric of life in many rural and urban communities has been steadfastly eroded through mismanagement and underfunding by this Government and previous Governments over many decades. It is no coincidence that the only cohort to benefit consistently from these Government policies has been landlords. We have crises in housing and health, and a cost-of-living crisis. There is a crisis of confidence in this Government among the ordinary people of Ireland. Refugees have arrived in Ireland, many from war zones and others from zones affected by climate change. Too many are traumatised by violence and abuse. To them, Ireland represented a safe haven, a place where they might find freedom from fear, but instead they find themselves in the middle of a situation where they are yet again innocent victims of propagators of hate and fear. There are groups and individuals who seek to hijack the Government mismanagement of the number of refugees seeking accommodation around the country as a vehicle to stake a claim for the hearts and minds of misinformed communities through the stoking of fear, anger, hatred and lies. They can only take root in the absence of governmental involvement in planning, delivery and discourse.

From the outset, the Government has been big on announcements. There have been many announcements and I listened to some of them today. The Government has failed to match its stated intent with any form of cohesive and applicable planning. The whole approach from the outset has been categorised by a failure to act that has been decades in the making. The fact the Government is out of touch with the reality of life for many communities and is tone deaf to the impact of its own negligence has framed its decision-making from the outset. Its remoteness and lack of understanding has meant its actions are bereft of the understanding that there was a need to engage with local communities to explain what was going to happen.

Across the State, there are people who have been devastated by the cost-of-living crisis and the total and utter failure to tackle the housing crisis has left many people reeling from eye-watering rents and mortgage payments that appear to be index linked to the blood pressure of the average homeowner, so quickly are they rising. We are talking about people across this State who are being pushed to the very edge of reason by this Government. It is not just the inaction of individual Ministers. The collective blithe indifference and reluctance to even begin to make the effort to understand what it means to be an ordinary person in Ireland today has increasingly alienated ordinary people. The problem with the Government's approach is there is no plan. There is zero intent to prepare the ground for refugees in areas right across the State. The Government is happy with an out of sight, out of mind solution. It dumped groups of traumatised and suffering individuals into a cauldron of discontent of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil's making, where right-wing agitators were able to bombard people and communities with misinformation and lies.

The inaction of the Government is only possible through the absence of State initiative within localities. We need dialogue with these communities. We need to see a workable system which treats applicants humanely and fairly. We need a plan to resource communities, not just to make promises and commitments but to follow through and resource communities. We need the will to implement a plan. Above all, we need the Government to start to do its job properly and regain the initiative from the agents of chaos who promise nothing but mayhem for our communities if they are not prevented from doing so.

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