Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There must be an election looming again as Sinn Féin has done another U-turn. It now states it no longer wants open borders. It now wants to look at things differently.

I am working with many nationalities in this country and always have done so. It is harder now to get into the country with paperwork than it is without paperwork in certain cases. I refer to people who come with paperwork and want to work here. How many letters has the Minister's office received from me and my colleagues regarding truck drivers who have been working here for the past year and a half but are awaiting permits and paperwork?

7 o’clock

They have been paying tax in the country but there is a box-ticking exercise whereby they have to have the paperwork done in a certain way, otherwise they cannot work here. For bus drivers, the situation is the same. People have come here from other countries. They are willing to work but they are not allowed to do so. It is scandalous.

Three weeks ago, our office dealt with a person on holidays whose passport was robbed. It took three days going from different parts of the State, working with our office, to get this Irish person back into the country. They would not be allowed to board a plane unless they had the proper documentation. We had a copy of their passport, yet we had to go to two or three different parts of the police service before they could get on a plane to come here.

Irish people wear their hearts on their sleeves. When the Ukraine war began, they opened their houses. Many people from Ukraine have come here. Many settled here but many have returned home and were thankful for the hospitality we showed them. At the moment, people here who have worked all their lives are trying to get into the housing market but are priced out of it because of the lack of supply. We can provide massive accommodation for people coming here for asylum when people working in this country cannot put a roof over their heads. I have ten in my house, namely my wife, my four children, my two grandchildren and two of my sons' partners. I am a building contractor, and they cannot afford to build because of the inflation in building costs. Wages do not now cover inflation. Across the board, if you do not have supply, everything goes up. How many farmers are leaving the dairy industry this year? Ask the marts how many cows are on the marts system and booked in already this year. They are being pushed out of farming yet we have a bigger population and need more milk and dairy products. It is all being imported from Europe and other countries that do not have the same criteria we have to make sure foods are safe. Regulation after regulation is putting the people who put food on our tables out of business, yet the population and the dependency of the people on them are increasing. The Government is tying them up in regulation.

People have said Ireland is full. People who have moved here from countries around the world are telling me it is full because they cannot get accommodation, and they are here to work. Does that not send a message to people? If they do get accommodation, the cost of it is out of control as a result of the situation with supply and demand. That is a failure of this and previous governments for not investing in infrastructure to accommodate more people and build more houses. It could have invested in sewerage, water, infrastructure and schools to deal with extra people. No, it is a narrow vision and all the funding is put in one place only. That is what is wrong with this country. The Government has failed to build the proper infrastructure to make sure we can accommodate whatever comes down the line. It has failed farmers and businesspeople with the over-regulation and overtaxing that have caused the massive inflation which will determine the future of our children.

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