Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I believe this Government’s policy on accommodation for immigrants coming into the country is turning into a serious disaster. I think most people want compassion but they also want common sense. Most people have a humanitarian instinct to help those who are really in need but they see the Government dividing communities across the country. The Minister is the Minister for integration but nobody can deny that what we are seeing unfolding in towns and cities across the country is disintegration. The Government has become massively dependent on the hospitality sector. I received a reply to a parliamentary question which stated that 85% of the locations in which asylum seekers are located are hospitality centres. This is having a significant effect on communities. It significantly reduces the downstream tourism income and jobs of people living in those towns and villages. Places where people celebrate birthdays, communions and weddings are being taken away from them. The Government is not providing any background help on this. Recently, I put in a parliamentary question asking how much of a community dividend the Government had paid out. Only €10 million out of €50 million promised two years ago had been paid out to communities. Look at what has been paid out on: things like pathways, picnic benches, etc. It is not on the real bread and butter issues like doctors, nurses, accommodation and transport.

There is an incredible situation where the Government is offering so much to hotels that they cannot resist the offer. The D Hotel was getting an income of €100 per night. Then the Government came along with a contract of €312 per night. That is an incredible contract when it comes to value for money for the Government. We also found out through a parliamentary question to the Minister’s Department that it has bought 37 buildings in the past 12 months for the provision of accommodation to asylum seekers and it has only been about to confirm to me in a reply that one of those has been used. That is one out of 37 buildings. Some 85% of the rooms that were pledged for Ukrainians were never activated and of the 700 or so planned rapid-build buildings that the Minister promised two years ago, only half are currently in existence. That is because this Government does not do anything in a rapid fashion. This Government has a major problem with the delivery of capital projects. It is right through society and this is another example.

Not only is there dysfunction in the provision and its location but it is also in the asylum process itself. I asked a parliamentary question that found that 76% of asylum applicants in this country are applying in the IPO office and the Government is not asking them how they came into the country. We do not know how they came into the country. We also know that 85% of deportations are not enforced by the Government at the moment. A total of 5,000 people came into the country last year on documents either lost, false or fake. That makes it extremely hard for the Government to be able to differentiate between those who need help and those who do not. That is all anyone wants: just a system that efficiently differentiates between those who need help and those who do not. All this dysfunction has a serious consequence. There are 970 asylum seekers homeless on the streets of Ireland today.

Some 5,000 people are living in direct provision with their applications having been agreed to, but despite this success they are still not able to move out of direct provision because the Government cannot provide accommodation to them. Of course, 13,300 people who are homeless are in emergency accommodation. The State absolutely has international responsibilities but it also has domestic responsibilities. That means we have to treat people in this country fairly. We cannot have any cohort of people who have a better chance of achieving a necessary resource or who are receiving more money than another family in seeking to achieve a necessary resource. If we do that, in the first instance it is unfair but secondly it is a recipe for anger, jealousy and disintegration. This is incredible stuff.

We have even seen a situation in Tipperary where a local authority had a contract with a property for homeless people and then the State entered into a bidding war with that local authority for refugees, which had the effect of pushing the price up and displacing a group of people who were in need, to the detriment of another group of people who were in need. We need a government which is getting serious around these issues. We need to treat people equally and fairly. While we must adhere absolutely to our international responsibilities, I ask the Minister not to forget our domestic responsibilities.

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