Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to contribute to this debate. It is an issue that has come to national prominence in recent months and it is only right and proper we discuss these matters in the Houses. I commend the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, other Ministers and the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, on the significant role they have played in this process. I also pay tribute to the countless public servants who are working under undoubtedly stressful conditions to try to identify accommodation across the State for those seeking international protection and for our Ukrainian friends. I appreciate how difficult it is and, having previously worked in the property market a couple of decades ago, I understand it is very difficult under the present circumstances, particularly with upwards of 100,000 people coming to our shores in the past year or so.

I also reassert my belief that we have a responsibility to provide adequate housing for international protection applicants and we must do all we can to facilitate that goal. I echo the comments made by the Taoiseach last week that, whatever an individual's view on immigration, no one person or community has the right to block access for housing for international protection applicants. To do so is intimidatory and wrong. We all saw the scenes in County Clare on television and we saw refugees walking away with their possessions in bags. We saw the burnt out tents on Sandwith Street Upper and we saw the marches in East Wall. I cannot be the only Member of this House who was ashamed to see those images.

Our history of emigration is well documented and often spoken about, so much so that it is almost clichéd at this stage. However, the scars of our history remain fresh and ingrained in our collective memory. Given the progress we have made as a country in recent decades, it can be easy to forget where we have come from. My parents left these shores in 1966 to go to the UK and my brothers left these shores to go to the UK and the US respectively. They have not returned yet but I hope they will. My uncles left in the 1940s and the 1950s to Scotland and South Africa, and these stories are not unique. It is not all that long ago that Irish people leaving Ireland in search of a better life were met with hostility or discrimination upon arrival in a new land. They left to flee hunger, violence, instability and poverty and they built their lives, in many cases far from their homeland, family and friends. They undertook arduous journeys, often at great personal risk, in the hope of a better life where they would be safe. We look upon these generations with sympathy and compassion, knowing the pain these events imposed upon our society. We know what it is like to be scattered to foreign countries.

We signed the UN refugee convention on 29 November 1956 and thereafter we signed its protocol in 1967. We therefore have a legal and moral basis to support those seeking international protection. It is in that context that the vast majority of Irish people maintain good faith towards our responsibility to be a safe harbour for those fleeing war, famine, climate change and instability in their countries. Despite this, there are those in this country who would seek to manipulate the genuine concerns some communities have regarding the accommodation of international protection applicants into a wider political agenda.

I spent a few minutes of my biweekly canvass yesterday in Swords talking to a man, and to be honest I do not think I will get his vote. I spent about six or seven minutes chatting to him and he addressed the issue of migrants with passion, although regrettably he did not refer to them as migrants. He said they are taking our jobs and that we are spending all this money on them and all the rest of it. He had a lack of knowledge and true information because all I heard from this individual were mistruths, misinformation, disinformation and stuff I have seen online on various apps, websites, Facebook and places like that. That is what we have to deal with. We are dealing with a large group of people who are being fed information which is broadly inaccurate and which ignores our legal and moral responsibilities towards supporting individuals who find themselves leaving their countries for whatever reason. If they have a legitimate reason to be here, then we have a legitimate, legal and moral reason to support them. The goal of individuals like that is simple. It is to stoke up tension and sow division in the heart of our communities, all for their gain. They must be countered through community engagement, information and resourcing.

Protest is a core tenet of our democracy and of any democracy. It has served us well and it will continue to do so, but there is a line that should not be crossed. Protesting outside a facility which houses children, for example, is not acceptable. Protesting outside a facility that houses women who have fled countries where they are being persecuted just because of their sex is not correct either. Those protests are not designed to welcome people or make them feel safe, and on that basis they should not be tolerated. Protests outside the homes of public representatives are equally unacceptable. I do not often agree with some Members of the Opposition but I could not possibly pass up the opportunity to condemn that sort of behaviour. Those individuals are welcome to come here, to Leinster House. This is the seat of our democracy and that is legitimate protest but preying on the weak and vulnerable, conducting head counts on buses and chanting at people getting off buses is just thuggish behaviour. It is weak-minded and it should not be tolerated.

Since the beginning of the year there have been approximately 125 anti-immigration protests in Dublin alone, which equates to almost seven per week. In some of those protests injuries have been incurred, and this presents a spectre of increased tension and violence. Gardaí are increasingly dedicating their time and resources to these protests and I commend them on their work to date and on the engagement with the Minister on the matter. We must ensure gardaí are adequately prepared for these situations to limit the risks they may face while engaging with protests in this scenario, but I must draw a line between ensuring the peace is kept and allowing certain behaviours to go unchallenged.

I want to give an example of this.

If Deputies Pringle, Kerrane, McGrath and Collins and I were to take a seat on the M50, perhaps on the bridge in Strawberry Beds, and block traffic because of some gripe that we had with the State, we would be arrested. I absolutely know we would be. Therefore, I have to ask why gardaí are permitting individuals to block a public road. I am yet to hear a satisfactory answer to that question, which I have asked over recent days. In recent weeks, we have seen a number of high-profile incidents on Sandwith Street, not far from here, and in Inch in County Clare where people have set up blockades to accommodation for asylum seekers. We cannot allow these kinds of incidents to occur, nor do I believe that the underlying roots of these situations can be ignored or that they will simply fade away. No one has the right to block streets, access to buildings or access to places of work, as occurred in Santry over the past couple of weeks, or indeed any other individuals in these ways, regardless of the setting, whatever the perceived justification that is given. We are a country of laws and we must adhere to them. The sinister actors involved in these incidents do not speak for the wider community. While they may feel they can take matters into their own hands, we must send them a message that they cannot.

There are many issues to be addressed within these communities, and they are settings in which concerns can be raised. In all of these events, we often do not hear the voice of the individual seeking shelter. Protests outside accommodation centres, attacks on tents, buildings and other such incidents can be seen and can be deeply traumatic for people seeking international protection, many of whom have fled political instability, violence, prejudice and extremism. These individuals have the right to safety and the right to build a life in which they can contribute to our society. I am encouraged by the progress we are making with regard to the number of international protection applications. I understand from the Taoiseach's comments earlier today in the House that there are approximately 250 international protection applicants who are yet to receive accommodation, down from approximately 500 in recent weeks and more than 1,000 in recent months. This is welcome progress, but it must be built upon. We cannot allow a situation to develop where people fleeing their own countries find themselves sleeping on the streets.

I also welcome the decision to re-evaluate the use of empty buildings, and particularly office buildings, with regard to this issue and the wider accommodation needs faced by the country. It not ideal and it is not perfect but at least it is a roof over the heads of those individuals on a temporary basis. I also believe that the use of modular buildings can play an important role in addressing the demand for accommodation and it is something we should pursue. However, as a Member of this House for the past 12 years, I have been hearing about modular accommodation since 2015 and I have not seen any delivered yet. I recognise the introduction of a €50 million community recognition fund, which rewards communities that have taken international protection applicants. My constituency in Fingal, which is that of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien, has benefited from in excess of €1 million in funding through this scheme, which will contribute widely to these projects.

I understand that many communities have raised legitimate concerns about information and supports available for communities that have been chosen to house refugees. I accept such concerns. It is only right the Department informs communities and its public representatives once properties are secure and made habitable for either international protection applicants or Ukrainians. It is only natural that people want to know and want to be consulted, but it must be said that the provision of such information in advance as some sort of sign-off process by the public just is not possible nor should it happen. That is what has been said to me over recent weeks. I do not believe that there should be any conditionality applied to housing refugees other than that the property is suitable. We have a legal and moral obligation to assist.

Immigration has brought diversity of culture, music, food, ideas and so much more to our shores. In recent years, we have seen new arrivals in Ireland start new businesses, young people excel in education and support other people within the community and so much more. I have had the privilege of representing the youngest, fastest growing community in Europe for the past 19 years. When I was mayor in 2007, I distinctly remember the pride I felt when I learned that there were 105 nationalities represented in the wider Fingal county at the time. I am not sure of the figure today, but it is probably quite similar. Because of them and because of the number of people that have come to our shores over the past 30 or 40 years and longer, we are a richer nation. I look forward to the positive impacts they will bring to this country in the future.

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