Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue of immigration and asylum is a very sensitive topic and one that needs to be dealt with sensitively in this House, so I reiterate my view and that of the Government that migration in the round has been a good thing for Ireland. We would not be able to run most of our public services without migrant workers. Many of the big companies that are here that pay billions in tax would not be here if it were not for access to talent from all over the world, and of course people coming from other parts of the world help to enrich our culture as a modern state.

On the particular issue of accommodating IP applicants, we are in an emergency situation. The number of people on the move in the world is at its highest level since the Second World War and the number of asylum seekers coming to Ireland is about the EU average. In previous years it was well below the EU average, but certainly it is not disproportionate to what other EU countries are facing. So far this year there have been more than 1,000 people who came here to seek international protection alone, and it is only 23 January, and about 600 have no accommodation at all. In this emergency scenario we are doing the best we can to find any accommodation we can, with preference being given to women and children.

The medium-term plan is to reduce the number of arrivals by enforcing our rules, but we need to be realistic about the difference that will make. It might not be huge, but we need to enforce our rules and demonstrate they are being enforced. We will have bigger centres. There will be a small number around the country that people can be accommodated in while a decision on their case can be made more quickly.

We will provide additional support for communities that have welcomed large numbers of Ukrainians and international protection applicants.

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