Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Healy-Rae raised the issue of the large number of people seeking international protection who are being housed all over the country, in small towns, big towns and cities. I know how challenging it is that so many people have come from abroad seeking international protection, with approximately 10,000 each year now, up from only 3,000 a year a few years ago. That is challenging. It is changing the demographics of some small towns and villages and even some parts of this city. It is also affecting the economy. I get that and understand it. It would be totally dishonest, however, to say to people it is possible to put a cap on the number of people who come to one's country seeking international protection. President Trump built a wall but was not able to do it. One of the reasons the UK left the European Union was so that it could control its borders but it is seeing record numbers of people arriving now on boats. Italy elected a Government that promised to crack down on immigration but in the past few weeks more people landed on Lampedusa than live on the island. It is not realistic to think it is possible to put a cap on the number of people who might arrive in one's country seeking international protection, especially when one sees what is going on in the world. All we can do is try to manage it better and that is what we are trying to do.

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