Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is good to hear about the establishment of the community engagement team, which is central. For many communities, it is really all about transparency and co-operation, especially across Government bodies, non-governmental organisations, NGOs, community collectives and volunteer organisations. That is really important and is fundamental in the context of providing ongoing supports for refugees to ensure they are integrated effectively. Given the evident pressures on our own critical services, be it housing, education, health care, or social supports, we need to bring other State agencies into play in relation to this. What gets thrown back at Deputies and other public representatives are issues like the capacity within primary care centres, accident and emergency departments and other auxiliary services like GPs and other health care services. We must look at the broader picture in terms of how we actually house refugees in areas that may not have the services required available.

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