Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have a rules-based system and those rules need to be enforced. There is no question about that. I have seen the reports on those arriving at Dublin Airport without travel documents. We must remember that many people who are arriving and seeking protection are fleeing persecution. I know Deputy McNamara would agree that as a country we have been welcoming and we should continue to be so. In some instances, people have very valid reasons for not having travel documents. People are fleeing countries where passports or travel documents cannot be issued. We must be aware of that. Where people seek asylum for false reasons, it deserves to be prosecuted. There is no question of that.

There has been additional training for airline staff for when people present without documentation. We have a rules-based system in Ireland. We must ensure as a State that while we are seeing a continued increase in the number of people wanting to live here and seeking asylum here, we make sure the supports are in place for them and that supports are in place for the communities who host them. I commend the communities throughout the country who, in a very short space of time, have been able to accommodate 100,000 people. Many new people will set down roots here. Their families are coming here. They are getting a welcome. Very recently, we have seen some awful situations, whereby accommodation centres and places identified for accommodation have been torched. That must be roundly condemned. It is atrocious criminal behaviour that has no place in this country.

To get back to Deputy McNamara's specific point on the law and immigration legislation, it is clear with regard to travel documentation that where someone is found to be breaking the law, they should be prosecuted and they will be. I do not have the numbers that have been prosecuted under the provisions of the Act.

See this speech in context