Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will do my best. There is no attempt to silence debate on the issue of migration in this country. I have engaged in countless debates and discussions in this House and the other House. I have engaged in countless discussions around the country with individual groups, speaking to them not only about proposals in their areas but also about how they fit into the State's wider migration policy. As for this attempt to cloak themselves in victimhood and to claim they are being silenced, the Deputies should go and talk to an Afghan man or a Syrian man in international protection accommodation. Ask him what government suppression of discussion looks like. No one is trying to silence the Deputies. I would not mind silencing Danny's phone every now and again but, beyond that, there is no attempt to silence anybody. I am always willing to engage in discussion and in a comprehensive debate about the issues of migration in this country, but what the Deputies have presented us today adds nothing to that discussion.

The Deputies place most of their focus on the issue of international protection and the system. It is important we remember the origins of that system. It was put in place to deal with the shameful legacy of Jewish refugees being turned away from country after country during the Holocaust. Ireland closed its doors at that time too, along with other countries. What international protection now means is fairly and humanely examining a claim for asylum, sheltering and supporting people while that claim is being assessed and giving people the right to stay here where it is adjudicated that that right needs to be provided. We should not be ashamed of that. We should not shy away from it. It is fundamentally a compassionate act, whatever the challenges we face. I believe it is a system worth fighting for and I will continue to defend it.

I will also be very honest, however, about the challenges, particularly in the area of accommodation, including the reliance on private providers, the variable accommodation standards and the fact that we have little control over locations. Those are compounding challenges that exist in respect of migration. My officials have worked incredibly hard in very challenging circumstances to keep people as safe as best we can. However, we are working in the confines of a system that was created for a different era. We need a system where the State holds the reins of control in terms of its accommodation, and the location of and standards in that accommodation. Without that control, we cannot put in place the supports that are needed for those who arrive, we will not have the space and time to engage in communities where accommodation is being located and we will be consistently relying on elements outside of our control.

We have seen that this is a system that can fail. It is failing right now. The change we need to make to this system is therefore vital. It is a change that will not happen overnight. The change will be the job of successive governments to implement. To ignore that challenge, however, to refuse to reform or just to blame people who come here seeking international protection will only worsen the problem. Prior to the Christmas break, I will seek Government approval for a revised White Paper setting out how we can enhance the level of State-owned accommodation. When we have State-owned accommodation, the State will have control.

The Deputies put a lot of focus on male international protection applicants in their motion. I will make just two points on that point. First, I ask the following question. It is one I have asked in other debates we have had on migration in this House. Is there any of us who can put our hand on our heart and say there is not a male member of our family who has not gone abroad seeking work? There are "unvetted" male migrants in every one of our families, and we are lucky as a country that other countries let them come in and contribute to the system. Not one of us can say that did not happen in our own families.

The second point I will make is that men are killed in war. I am old enough to remember the pictures from the Bosnian war, from Srebrenica, as the UN pulled out and the Serb paramilitaries arrived.

It was all smiles at the start and then the men were separated from the women. They are still finding those men's bodies in pits around Srebrenica today. They identify them with their dental records and the scraps of clothes still stuck to their skeletons. Men are targeted in war, men are victims of war and, yes, sometimes men flee war. Maybe some Deputies think they would not flee. Maybe some Deputies think they would be braver. It is very easy to say that in the comfort of our seats in Leinster House.

I will continue to engage in discussion about the issue of migration. I will continue to engage with all Deputies when there are proposals for accommodation in their particular area but I do not believe that what has been presented today in any way sheds light on this issue, progresses this issue or gives any guidance on how our State deals with something that is a real challenge. It is a challenge that is faced all over the world and it is one that will be managed by this State in such a way that we continue to see the benefits of migration that we have seen to such an extent in recent years.

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