Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I attended an excellent town hall meeting organised by the North West Migrants Forum at the end of September. It has done very good work on highlighting the reality of the invisible hard border that exists on this island for non-EU nationals. There was another example of the consequences of this in terms of racial profiling on 7 November, when a black passenger was removed from the X4 Derry to Dublin bus while a white passenger with no identification remained on the bus. There are very simple things the Government can do without the agreement of the Tory Government to bring down large elements of this invisible hard border. It can and should state that non-EU visa nationals who have lawful residency in the North should be granted a form of deemed permission to enter the State in the South. It can state that everyone who is lawfully resident on this island can access public services in the South. It can state the time spent living in residency in the North would count towards citizenship requirements. Senator Emer Currie of Fine Gael was present at the town hall meeting. She said she agreed with all of these things. Does the Taoiseach agree with them and will the Government act on them?

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