Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A significant number of us have stated that we think it is crazy for Ireland to opt in fully to the EU migration pact. A significant number of these measures are not beneficial to us putting a migration system that suits Ireland. Sometimes it becomes trite. We all use similar terminology about fair, efficient and enforced but that is what people want to see. They want to see a fair and decent system but they want to see a sustainable system that actually works. We have to accept the reality regarding Ireland, the Border and the shared common travel area. It does not come as any shock to me that the Border will constantly cause problems for Ireland with regard to many of its interactions. Until this State makes the proper preparation for delivering an end to that Border, we will constantly face these issues.

The fact is that we have this border so we need bespoke solutions and these will not be suited by the EU migration pact that was put together on the basis of other needs and wants. We all accept the need for co-operation when dealing with these issues. We will talk about migration. It has been said by many that Irish people have gone all over the world. It was a necessity for us given our history of persecution. Even beyond that, at this point in time, Ireland could not survive without inward migration whether we are talking about the health sector or the fact that we are constantly talking about the fact that we do not have enough bus drivers or enough mechanics to make sure the buses can still be driven.

This is the reality but we have seen chaos. Deputy Munster spoke about the loss of the D Hotel. Again, this is the State relying on the market. In some cases, not only has there been a loss of hotel beds with an impact on tourism, places have been offered by the private sector that are utterly unsuitable. Regarding the reception centres we were told about that need to be State-run and State-owned, I had a conversation with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth yesterday. I am almost frightened when I hear about 2028 as the date when this will finally done, which is not in any way good enough. We have constantly spoken about streamlining the processing system and some of that has happened but not enough. The Taoiseach said that the biggest issue was improving processing times and when processing times improve, suddenly we had fewer people who came from particular countries.

There is a wider issue about why a significant number of people are on the move. The western powers and the EU have a part to play. Russia and China have a part to play. We look at war from the Middle East and right across Africa and even beyond involving countries that are not necessarily war-ravaged. We know the western world takes more out in debt repayments than what it puts in the form of overseas aid. Until all that is addressed, we will dealing with that particular situation but we need to get real. We need to have a system that works for Ireland. We know the accommodation crisis, which is down to many failed Governments with housing policies that have failed to deliver housing for our people whether we are talking about council housing, affordable housing or any aspect of the rental sector and the housing sphere.

We do need to stand up to racists and to these so-called patriots and nationalists. I will use an example from the election. A friend of mine who I have a lot of respect for and who is a long-time republican activist and former blanket man listened to some idiot at the door - he was a lot calmer than I would have been - calling him a traitor. This is somebody who spent his entire life in a national liberation struggle. We need to make sure we stand up against these people and point out what they are.

See this speech in context