Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

Sorry, I did not interrupt the Deputy. I just want to make the point. The Deputy said there are more than 5,000 prisoners. He is saying that if a number of asylum seekers are imprisoned, for whatever reason, they should not be, irrespective of what the reasons might be. That is what he indicated. His suggestion that it is all about some performance for the optics that we just want to get tough on migration, imprisoning a few and letting criminals go free is a preposterous proposition and assertion, and it is wrong.

Let us take it bit by bit. Every country in the world has rules in respect of migration. We issue work permits for people who want to legally come into the country to work. We issue visas for people who want to stay in the country and so on, be it a holiday visa or whatever type of visa. There is a variety of visas. We have visa agreements with other countries. There is freedom of mobility within the European Union. All of that has been positive for this country, but there has to be rules around migration. The Government is very clear on that. The Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, has been very clear on that. It is not optics; it is just common sense. We will reject any assertion that Ireland is an open-border territory. It is not. We have never had open borders because there has always been a system.

There is a very serious issue in terms of prison overcrowding. Two weeks ago, the Minister brought proposals to Government to speed up the construction of 960 prison spaces.

That will happen. It will take four years, between the planning, getting the construction work done and completing part of it. That is an immediate response. There will also be more medium-term responses in terms of prison capacity.

Third, a range of measures have been taken in recent years in the context of getting tough on crime. I refer here to legislation to criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime, rolling out a support programme to break the link between gangs and the children they try to recruit, strengthening CAB's ability to target the proceeds of crime and speeding up the process to dispose of assets for the benefit of the State.

The Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau is leading in tackling of all forms of drug trafficking and the supply of illicit drugs in Ireland. More than €627 million in illicit drugs have been seized by the bureau, as well as firearms and so on. The Minister for Justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, recently launched a drive in respect of a drug-related intimidation and violence engagement project. That will have impact. The Garda workforce is also increasing.

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