Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important and welcome debate. I thank all the Deputies who participated. I listened to almost all their contributions, including on my way to the House. The debate has been useful.

The Department continues proactively to secure shelter from multiple sources to accommodate those fleeing the war in Ukraine and those applying for international protection. It has been extremely challenging to adapt existing systems to help meet the needs of those arriving here in a vulnerable position and needing supports. The Government acknowledges that elements of the response have been imperfect - the same is true of countries throughout Europe - but this opportunity to discuss the issues and listen to feedback is of great benefit. We must remain committed to doing our best for those seeking protection in Ireland and appreciate the scale of what we are dealing with and what has been achieved so far. In recent years, communities throughout Ireland have demonstrated great solidarity and welcome for those who come here seeking refuge. In particular, I thank the community and voluntary groups who have done so much, individually and collectively, to welcome all those seeking refuge to our country, and I was glad to get the opportunity to thank them in a more direct way at the annual summit of The Wheel in Croke Park this morning.

The Government deplores any action that seeks to intimidate vulnerable people seeking refuge here, many of whom have fled countries with oppressive regimes, war and persecution. The violence recently directed towards vulnerable people in Dublin city centre was deeply disturbing and there can be no excuse for such sinister intimidation. While peaceful protest is a right, international protection applicants also have a right to live peacefully in what is, essentially, their new home in Ireland while their application is being processed. Successful integration does happen if communities open their hearts and minds, hold off judgments based on preconceptions they may harbour and give people a fair chance to engage in local life. My visits to communities throughout Ireland have shown me that in communities that have done so, there is a vibrant new dynamic where those who arrived and were accommodated there are now involved in the likes of Tidy Towns, local volunteering and sports clubs. Communities, and we as a people, are enriched by this integration.

The Government is supporting this work on a variety of levels. Earlier this month, I announced grant funding for more than 110 local projects nationally under the community integration fund. Before the summer break, I hope to announce further community and voluntary sector supports under the international protection integration fund, and later this year, there will be even more substantive packages to support migrant integration at the national level. Local authorities will play a more proactive role in supporting migrant integration, with funding from our Department to recruit between two and four integration officers in each local authority area. That funding will be released soon. We hope to have these teams in place later this year in each local authority area. Last week, of course, as has been mentioned a few times during this debate, the Department of Rural and Community Development, at which I am also Minister of State, announced grants to local authorities under the community recognition fund, which will go to areas that have seen significant numbers of arrivals of new people in the past year to help enhance local community infrastructure for all, such as community centres, sports facilities, parks and playgrounds. Deputy Kerrane spoke about Ballaghaderreen. A total of €270,000 has been granted to Ballaghaderreen, with a lot to be funded under that, such as a community bus, a park enhancement and a boxing club. The social inclusion and community activation programme saw a significant increased allocation last year but also for this year, which has allowed local development companies throughout the country to employ additional community workers to reach out to new arrivals and build bridges with local communities.

Nevertheless, bad-faith actors are seeking to infiltrate communities and prey on people's fear of the unknown. These actors are intent on sowing division and hatred in communities. So far, the vast majority of communities have been resolute in not accepting this hateful rhetoric and the dangerous actions that emanate from such rhetoric. I must emphasise, however, that while it is incumbent on the Government to do all it can to prevent and de-escalate tensions in local communities, we must all show leadership. We now have an active national action plan against racism and I have put a lot of energy into getting momentum going on it since I launched it in March. I have begun bilateral talks between Departments and key organisations in regard to its implementation, with two more such meetings to be held tomorrow. Earlier this month, I launched the Ireland for All fund, which will fund small-scale and large, national antiracism projects. The deadline for applications to that scheme is 31 May.

Perhaps the most important antiracism project, however, relates to how we as political and local leaders respond to people's reactions to arrivals. I have been struck by how, by and large, political representatives of all persuasions have stood in solidarity with people seeking protection and have, on many occasions, been instrumental in communicating not just the facts of a situation relating to a new accommodation centre but also the importance of our moral obligation, as a country and a set of communities, to do our best to help people who are fleeing circumstances we do not have to face in Ireland. I thank Deputies, Senators and councillors of all persuasions who have assisted in this regard, over the past year in particular. Indeed, it is local leadership that is most important in these matters. As is always the case, it is local communities who show what we truly mean when we speak of the very Irish notion of meitheal, that is, coming together with the ultimate goal of making things better for everyone.

I will continue to work with community and voluntary groups and other services across the country to ensure we continue to show the best of who we are at a local and a national level. Indeed, it is my intention next month to hold a national event where we will pull together good community-based integration initiatives from across the country in order to share good practice, give communities the confidence and ability to reach out to new arrivals, but also to platform at a national level the wider reality that the dominant response of Irish communities to new arrivals continues to be welcoming and supportive.

I will pick up on a number of points mentioned this evening. We remain committed to the White Paper on Ending Direct Provision. Obviously, it has suffered a setback over the last year but the structures have been put in place to start that process.

I also express solidarity with other Members of the Houses, who have been personally threatened or harassed, or the members of their families have been, due to standing up for what is right. We are all of different persuasions and from backgrounds here but what has been said and done to Members is unacceptable, and particularly to members of people's families, not just over the last couple of weeks but for some months now. We all need to stand together against that.

I acknowledge that communication could have been better in many cases. I would say there is a wider context. We have opened 150 emergency accommodation centres since January last year. The majority of them have worked very well. Communities have accepted them. Some have said here that there is no communication with communities by Government. That is not wholly true; I accept it could be better. I will try to explain briefly what happens and why I think Deputy Canney adverted to us trying to be secretive about it. We do not want to share the full information about an accommodation centre until we know it is coming online. There is obviously a negotiation process. There is a process where a provider will try to improve a building. What happens in many cases is that local information leaks out and people start rumours. We do not have a deal done in many of those cases. However, when we sign the contract, we finalise the information and it is at that stage that we email the local Deputies with that information. The problem arising from the situation we have at the moment is that we have a centre that is ready to go and we 200 to 300 people who are unaccommodated, and the timeline between the two of those needs to be tight. We would like it to be longer. In some cases, we have had a decent lead in time of a few weeks. It has not happened properly in other cases and that is why, to some extent, the communication has not been great.

I appreciate the Deputies who have assisted in disseminating that information. In some cases, when we disseminate information, the Deputies will tell us that we need to meet locals on this and in many of those cases myself, the Minister of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, or members of our staff have endeavoured to do so. That system needs to be better. The Department of the Taoiseach is developing a better communications plan that will help that.

I put a slight caveat on all this, and it has been said by some in the House this evening. Engagement alone or information alone does not always convince everyone. It can be better and it will help the process but we will not get everyone over the line. That is where local leadership is especially important and why we are grateful for that support across parties. We want to support that local leadership across the community and in the voluntary sector as well.

I appreciate Members' input tonight. There were clear messages which we accept in terms of communication, resourcing and planning. We would be wise to take these on board.

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