Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is cuimhin liom nuair a bhí mé ar scoil i dTrá Lí. D'iarr an múinteoir tíreolaíochta ar an rang cé mhéad duine a raibh uncail, aint nó col ceathrair acu sna Stáit Aontaithe. Chuir gach aon duine sa rang a lámh in airde. Tuigim gur Éireannaigh muid agus tuigim an t-idirdhealú agus an imirce. We know what it is like to be an emigrant. We know what it is like to be discriminated against. We know what it is like to be alone and vulnerable in a foreign country.

Most people in Ireland are welcoming when an international protection applicant centre is opened in their area but it is a reality that a small minority are not. We have seen a clear and organised campaign by divisive elements that have been able, or are attempting, to exploit this. Ironically, for some of them who are supposedly Irish patriots, they are awfully keen on welcoming in agitators from abroad, copying their tactics and taking their lead.

As we made clear in the past, no matter where it is, protesting outside people's homes, however temporary those homes, is not acceptable to us. If the protestors want to and are brave enough, they should go to Government Buildings or take their protests somewhere else, and not intimidate further people, including women and children, who have come here fleeing persecution abroad.

The Government has repeatedly failed to devise a long-term plan. In its White Paper nearly two and a half years ago, it proposed a series of six or seven reception centres around the country, provided not, as my party would have liked, by Government so they could be used for other opportunities later but by approved housing bodies. However, not one of those has been delivered. We have heard a lot today from the Government about what has been done but the reality is the central tenets of its plan from two years ago have not been delivered on.

A serious response was needed from the Government. It would have been more appropriate to have had a junior Minister with sole responsibility for this but it was interesting that another Green Party junior Minister, who already has responsibility for two other Departments, was appointed in this area when neither Fianna Fáil nor Fine Gael was prepared to put its neck on the line.

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