Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure where to start there. On housing supply in Kerry, the Deputy was with the Minister for housing at the opening of a new housing estate in Castleisland very recently. That is one of many examples of real progress being made in respect of housing. I thank the Deputy for turning up to report that progress for his constituents in Kerry; it is important he does that.

On the importance of the hospitality sector and the question of immigrants, I have been to Kerry many times. It is a beautiful county. I have been in many of the hospitality facilities there. As a result, I know how reliant we are on migrants to staff the tourism and hospitality sectors in County Kerry. I am sure in his next comment the Deputy will acknowledge the very positive contribution of the many migrants who work in hotels, cafés, bars and souvenir shops and all the other wonderful facilities he mentioned in the Kingdom. It would be important for him to do that. I am sure he will also want to acknowledge on the record of this House that there are a number of hotels in Kerry, including the Dingle Harbour Lodge and the Hotel Killarney, that had been used to accommodate Ukrainian people but that are no longer being used to do so. I am sure the Deputy will welcome that fact as well.

What we are seeing here is a conscious effort to work with communities, recognising the importance of the tourism sector and the hospitality sector, to provide facilitates to be returned to their original use as the situation allows.

I know we face a very difficult challenge when it comes to migration. We are not alone in that. As Taoiseach, I intend to take charge of this situation and support Ministers right across the Government, particularly as this is a whole-of-government issue. It is not the responsibility of any one Department; we are reliant on all Departments looking to see what they can do to support the humanitarian situation and support people who are in need. We want to provide that support in the compassionate way that this country always wants to provide it. We also wish to make sure that there is a rules-based system, that there is common sense and that our systems are efficient and effective. Irish people are two things - they are compassionate and they are full of common sense. They want to see a migration policy that does both of those things.

In the four weeks since I became Taoiseach, we have taken action in respect of Mount Street and we will act in respect of Grand Canal Dock. I want people to know that we have listened to the concerns that Irish people - good, decent people, across this country - are raising and the questions they are asking. Ministers and I will respond. We need a much broader response to migration than just having a conversation about accommodation. If we solely have a conversation about accommodation, then, no matter how much accommodation we provide, it will be filled. We must have a conversation about migration policy in the round. I look forward to a number of proposals coming forward from Ministers and the Government in relation to this in the coming days.

We will continue to work with communities in the Deputy's county and across Ireland. We will continue to try to reduce the reliance on the private sector because we do not want to be in the business of having to rely on facilities that are badly needed in towns and villages. We want to move away from that approach. In other words, move away from the emergency model and towards a sustainable model. These are very much the proposals that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, got approval for in terms of his new accommodation framework at Cabinet only a few weeks ago.

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