Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this very important discussion. Like my colleague, Deputy Brady, I want to start by saying clearly that protesting outside the place where somebody lives is wrong, whether it is somebody's home, a reception centre or a tent on the street. There is simply no justification under any circumstances for such activities. Blockading people going to where they live or work is also wrong. Like all of the Deputies who have spoken so far, I have been appalled by recent actions. The stopping and blocking of buses, or forcing your way onto buses to count human beings like they were cattle at a mart, is also simply wrong. The message needs to go out very clearly from this Chamber that we do not accept those kinds of activities.

Like many people on this side of the House, I have spent most of my political life protesting and picketing. I will unrelentingly defend people's right to protest. However, if people are unhappy with the policies or actions of any of us in this building, whether on the government or opposition side, then the place to protest is at Government Buildings, the Dáil or other locations. There is no contradiction between criticism of the unacceptable actions of a few in recent months with the defence of the right to protest. The appalling scenes in Sandwith Street, where people's personal belongings were destroyed and their homes set on fire, were a turning point. The overwhelming majority of people in this country, even people who may not agree with some of the sentiments we express here today around migration and asylum, are resolutely against that behaviour.

As people know, I represent Dublin Mid-West and live in Clondalkin village. Like many parts of the State, the number of men, women and children seeking international protection who have joined our community in the past year and a half has been significant. We have gone from having a direct provision centre with a population of approximately 250 people and with very good connections to our local community to having five centres and a community of approximately 2,000 people seeking international protection, which is a significant number. I recognise when I speak to people in my constituency that they are generous and welcoming, and want to work with others to do the right thing, like communities the length and breadth of the

country. I ask the Minister to listen to some of the things that these good people in my constituency, like the good people in his constituency, are telling us about how

the approach of Government needs to be improved. They are genuine comments that people are making which I endorse and want the Minister to listen to. They are saying they need more dialogue. I listened carefully to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. People are not saying they want a veto. They are not saying they want extensive consultation in advance. They understand this is an emergency. However, they do want a communications plan. They want to be talked to when new centres are opened and thereafter. They want reasonable questions answered with factual and correct information, and they want any concerns they may have adequately addressed. I do not think that is too much to ask for. We all accept this is an emergency. We all accept it is not going to be perfect. However, that process of dialogue and engagement, particularly as and after a new centre is opened, is crucial and benefits both the residents of the centre and the host community. In the vacuum that has been created in many locations, those bad-faith actors that we all agree are playing a negative role thrive.

Resources are the next thing, and many of our communities are already stretched. They are stretched not because of the actions of anybody seeking international protection or fleeing the war in Ukraine but as a result of years of governmental failure. Deputy Brady rightly highlighted the failures in housing, health, education and childcare, etc. Therefore, where there is an increase in the number of people fleeing war and persecution joining our communities while seeking international protection, we need adequate resourcing. We need a plan in place across all Government Departments and local organisations and agencies to deliver it.

My biggest criticism when I reflect on the past 14 months, while acknowledging that things cannot be perfect, is the absence of a coherent, cross-departmental, central and local plan. It is in the absence of that plan that too much space has been given to those bad-faith actors on the far right to do what they have done.

I also wish to highlight clearly another group of people who always get forgotten in this debate. There are 5,000 men, women and children in direct provision centres today and they should not be there. They have a legal right to remain. They have been given refugee status but are trapped in direct provision, which is essentially being used as emergency homeless accommodation.

I visited the Clondalkin Towers direct provision centre in my constituency yesterday meeting with residents. Eighty per cent of the residents there have status. They do not want to be in it. In fact, some of them are receiving letters from the International Protection Accommodation Service telling them if they do not make a greater effort to move out, they will be moved elsewhere outside of Dublin. These are people who every day, like all the other people trying to find alternative accommodation in the housing crisis, are looking for viewings and are looking for rental accommodation but are simply unable to access it. I seek an assurance from the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, that no person with status will be displaced from direct provision because of an inability to find alternative accommodation, uprooting them and their families from the local communities.

I urge the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to listen to what Members on this side of the House are saying. The Minister is hearing much of what we are saying in his constituency. We want to work with the Minister and we want to improve the response but there are many things that have been done that have not been done well, have not been done correctly and could have been done better. What is crucial is a proper plan, proper resourcing and proper dialogue in the interests of host communities, of people fleeing Russia's unjustifiable war in Ukraine and of people coming to our shores seeking international protection. If we work together, we can achieve the best results for all. To date, the response of Government has fallen short and it needs to improve.

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