Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get a chance to talk on this most important debate. I will not be told what to say or not to say or be muzzled in this Chamber, outside it or anywhere else. I take exception to Members of this Chamber calling me various names when I put something forward here. That has not been corrected yet. Even outside the Chamber, we have been called cowards. Anyone who knows the Healy-Raes, going back as far as I can remember, will know none of them was ever a coward. I am not afraid of those who make these allegations here, there or anywhere. It is very unfair of people to use the public airways to call us cowards.

I, like everyone else, appreciate human beings, whoever they are and wherever they are from. I actually love people. I have worked for all classes in Killarney and the surrounding area for way more than 20 years as a public representative and will continue to do so. We welcome people here for whatever reason they come but there has to be a place called Stop when they have an impact on our own services. Clearly, Kerry County Council has indicated we do not have the services to take any more because they are having an impact on the services of our own people.

The first thing that has to happen when people come here, regardless of the country they are from, is vetting within a short space of time. They should have to give their credentials. If people from war situations are to get a PPS number, as has happened – we are talking about Ukrainians – they should have to undergo an assessment, just as all the Irish people here have to undergo when they want to get social welfare, a medical card or any other benefit, even school transport. We have a two-mile rule for picking up children. They have to be from beyond two miles of the school to get the free school transport. That does not apply to children from Ukraine. Seeing as the Government can give free transport to children from within two miles of a school, or not more than a half mile away, it should provide the same service to local children. There has to be fair play. If the Government is going to continue with the system, Irish children must get the service and be assured of the same deal as anybody from anywhere else in the world.

We must apply a cap, belatedly as it may be, because it is clear that if we are to take care of the people coming here, and certainly take care of our own people, we cannot take any more at present. I asked the Taoiseach a number of days ago to reduce the rates of social welfare and benefits. He said we could not. I also asked him whether we could have a uniform rate of social welfare across the European Union. He said we could not. I cannot see how that is right, because we have to have a level playing field all across Europe. Many more seem to be coming here than elsewhere although Ireland is the farthest from Ukraine, is an island and is harder to get to. Therefore, we need to level the pitch, and the Government needs to argue in Europe that the same rates of social welfare should apply across the board.

Our people need to be treated the very same as the Ukrainian people. The latter get the same social welfare rates and get fed and housed. They also get school transport and free postage. One thing that hurt me very much at a time when I was looking for a special wheelchair for a person who has been incapacitated in Ireland for a long time was that I saw a vanload of game chairs for Ukrainian children inside in a post van. That is the gospel truth. Our children are getting no game chairs. If the Government is to continue doing that, it will have to give them to our children as well. The Ukrainian people get hairdressers, offering all kinds of dos, and they get shoes and clothes. There is even a secondary school bus taking Ukrainian children to Killorglin from Killarney. The Irish Killarney children have to pay for a bus to take them to Killorglin. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. If the Minister, Deputy Foley, is going to give free transport in every situation to children who come here, that is fine, but she should have to give it to our children as well. That is what I am asking for.

How is it that Georgia emerged as a leading country of origin for applicants in 2022, constituting one application in every five despite the Department of Justice designating Georgia as a safe country of origin? All we want is fair play. That is what we are asking for here today.

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