Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this worrying trend across Ireland, which is an illustration of ignorance and hatred that cannot be allowed to take hold or accepted as normal, or, indeed, a consequence of doing what is right. It must be investigated with the appropriate vigour by An Garda Síochána. I thank Deputy Murphy for making clear earlier that there was no legislative gap, a point that I entirely agree with.

These incidents of arson are extremely reckless and, by their very nature, serious crimes, especially when risking somebody being inside the building who might be harmed or worse. While people have the right to protest and, of course, that right must be respected, people do not have the right in any way to cause others to fear for their safety or to act in a way that threatens public order.

Neither should it ever be accepted that property is somehow fair game for destruction because of a particular ideology or stance against long-standing State policy.

Ireland is a diverse and tolerant country and our population is rising at a remarkable rate, as illustrated just this morning on social media by the author Mark Henry when he noted that Ireland had one of the fastest growing populations in Europe and that we had seen a staggering 14% of an increase over the past decade with only Malta and Luxembourg's populations growing faster. During the same period, the population of the EU grew by just 2%. Such population growth drives economic growth. As of last week, 2.7 million people in this jurisdiction had a job.

There remains no place in Irish society for racism, prejudice or bigotry. I join with the Minister in strongly condemning the actions of those who abuse and attack others because of their own prejudices against a person's religion, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual orientation or any other part of his or her identity as a human being. We in this House have a firm obligation to speak carefully about immigration and not to fuel the growing global trend of racism and religious bigotry.

An Garda Síochána is investigating 18 incidences of arson and 12 arrests have been made since May of last year. It is important to note that, if a group of people breaks into a premises and sets it on fire, it does not matter who lit the match; all could face a charge of arson. The penalty for criminal damage other than by fire under the Criminal Damage Act 1991 is a fairly significant fine of €12,500, imprisonment for up to ten years or both. The same sanctions can be applied if someone is found guilty of threatening to cause damage to property or if found to be in possession of something that might be intended to cause damage to property. It is worth highlighting that with these arson attacks comes a real threat of death should someone be on the premises at the time. Furthermore, let us not forget the men and women of our fire services who must risk themselves in tackling such wanton acts of destruction.

Given the very serious nature of the recent arson attacks and other public order incidents, I am pleased the Minister is taking a number of legislative measures to uphold public order and to support An Garda Síochána. Legislation has been enacted to provide for Garda bodycams. The Joint Committee on Justice, several members of which are in the Chamber, is currently debating the use of facial recognition technology to assist An Garda Síochána in doing its job. There have also been measures on Garda CCTV, automatic number plate recognition and community CCTV. Our public order legislation criminalises offensive behaviour in public places and engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place. I am positive that these measures will curb the type of antisocial and disruptive behaviour that has become all too commonplace in recent years.

It is worth noting that An Garda Síochána's budget is now at an all-time high of €2.35 billion. This represents a very significant 25% increase in just five years. All Members remain completely committed to getting an increase in the number of gardaí to reach the current target of 15,000 but there are also other strands to the investment strategy. These include the recruitment of Garda staff, 1,000 of whom have been hired to free up sworn members of An Garda Síochána to get out on the beat and do their jobs. We have also seen a significant 10% rise in the number of members of An Garda Síochána up and down the country since 2015. There have been increases of 14% in my own community in Swords, 14% in Malahide and 50% in Balbriggan. Those are very significant numbers to read into the record.

As a country and as a society, we must recognise that migration is a good thing for Ireland. To put it bluntly, we simply could not run our public services without migrant workers. Anyone who has visited a hospital recently will have noticed the number of people from abroad who are working here. They come from a broad spectrum of countries and moved here because they wanted a better life for themselves and for their families and because we desperately need them. We have been calling for them and recruiting for them in foreign countries. That is a narrative Irish people know about and understand. We are an island of migrants. My brother lives in Massachusetts, USA and my other brother lives in Northampton, England. We have been leaving these shores and returning for generations. It is no different when people come to these shores for the purpose of seeking a better life or to get away from persecution, the effects of climate change or any other difficulty.

Ireland is not full. The island has supported more than 8 million people in the past and our population density is currently one of the lowest in Europe. There are 135,000 farms in this jurisdiction. They require workers and it is very hard to get them, as any rural Deputy will say. A total of 15 of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies are located here and they require skilled expertise that we do not have. In IT, nine of the top ten tech companies are domiciled here. We also need approximately 20,000 construction workers, not to mention the people we will need to man the very ambitious retrofitting programme that is being rolled out. Hospitality is another industry that is heavily reliant on migrant workers. Outside of the economic prism, Ireland is a far better country as a result of having more diverse communities within our society.

However, we must acknowledge that we are seeing unprecedented numbers of migrants arriving on our shores seeking refuge. This is not unique to Ireland. People are becoming more and more displaced because of war, poverty, bigotry and, as I mentioned, climate change. However, the percentage of migrants Ireland receives from across Europe is a drop in the ocean when compared to the percentages received by our EU neighbours. I find it interesting that those who called for a debate on migration are not present for this debate. As I have stated previously, it is our responsibility, as Members of this House, to inform people and reiterate that our immigration policy is robust and that sloganeering from politicians, both inside this House and outside it, or from those who try to manipulate the electorate for their own benefit cannot be tolerated and must be called out. I am sharing time. Was it three minutes for Deputy Costello?

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