Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I speak to the Minister today not just as leader of Independent Ireland or on behalf of my constituents, but on behalf of the tens of thousands of people across this country who feel ultimately betrayed by a Government that has wilfully ceded Irish sovereignty, ignored countless opinion polls and placed the interest of Brussels and bureaucracy above the basic needs of its own citizens. The Government had the option - the legal right under the Lisbon treaty - to opt out of the EU migration pact. Instead, it rolled over and surrendered. It signed us up to binding quotas, border detention policies and an EU-managed asylum system that will dictate whom we accept and how we manage our own borders. We had a choice and the Government choose to give that choice away.

The Irish people never agreed to this. In fact, time and again they said the opposite. Over 70% of the population, according to repeated polls, including RED C and Ireland Thinks, believe this country has already taken too many migrants. That is the reality. That is the voice of a country with a housing crisis, a health crisis, an infrastructural crisis and a Government in absolute denial. Why is it ignoring the will of the Irish people on immigration? Why is it ignoring the concern of exhausted residents in Citywest, Dundrum, Athlone and areas all over Dublin? In my constituency, in communities where services are stretched and schools are full, people are told to just get on with it.

The people of Saggart and surrounding areas were promised that the Citywest facility would be temporary. That promise is now in ashes. The Government has handed over a staggering €148 million of taxpayers' money to make it permanent. There was no consultation, honesty or regard for the community. The Government has betrayed them and they know it. There has been no consultation in the Dáil. How can the Government spend €148 million without approval from Dáil Éireann. Whether we like it or not, that is where democracy starts and ends, by right. However, there was none; this all went on behind the people's backs. The Government spent €148 million on people who have no connections to Ireland, while hours ago I was informed that a much-needed and loved nursing home in Bantry is now being told its doors must be closed, along with another home in Conna.

HIQA informed the receiver in charge of Aperee nursing home in Bantry that it is issuing a closure order for the home. HIQA recognises that there are no clinical or fire safety issues in the nursing home and that the standard of care is very good. The Minister of State is probably asking himself how that relates to the issue before us but I am telling him that we do not have homes for our own people. I held up a picture in the Chamber yesterday of a gentleman who told me I was entitled to do so. He is from Ballinspittle in west Cork but he had no home last night to sleep in. That is an astonishing situation. Last week, I held up another picture. This man is 77 years of age and last week I showed a picture of an 88-year-old woman who had no home. These are Irish people. Surely to God they need to be respected and there needs to be at least some thought given that they are entitled to a home. Now we have two nursing homes that are going to close. Where are the residents to go? They are going to have no home and there is no issue with compliance other than a paperwork issue. All of this has to start and end somewhere.

The bottom line is that the Government has opened up a door and it cannot close it now. It has no credibility. I brought up Citywest on numerous occasions, as well as other areas and called for a proper, open debate. There are people who have come into this country who have been welcomed. I have certainly looked for a lot of work visas for them and they are well entitled to come. However, just banging open the doors and taking off the hinges is not good enough but that is what has happened in this country. We can spend millions on everyone but not focus on our own. While all of this is happening, what do we hear from Ministers? We hear excuses and empty rhetoric. We do not see action.

I will give the House a direct comparison. The Government has earmarked a paltry €100 million in this year's budget to help students and families with college fees. That is barely enough to keep up with inflation, let alone provide real relief to struggling parents. Meanwhile, we are spending billions on international protection and refugee accommodation. The figures released show that over €1.5 billion is being spent this year alone on accommodation services and direct provision for asylum seekers and refugees and that figure is rising every year without any democratic consent. Students are dropping out of college because their parents cannot afford to pay the rent. Parents are working two jobs to pay for books and transport. What is this Government's response? It is to spend more on everyone else but not on our own. That is the whole point I am trying to make here. The spending of billions of euro has not really been approved here. It has been approved by Europe. We cannot be dictated to by Europe every day of the week. We have done our bit in relation to Ukrainian people when the trouble broke out there initially. We have done that but it seems like we are continuously opening our doors. We need further debates in the Dáil, but not divisive debates. People have different opinions and I have to respect that too but a debate is the democratic right of everybody. That democratic right is being refused to Gus, Jennifer and the people who are going to be kicked out of a west Cork nursing home in two weeks. Funding needs to be put in there and not where it is being put at the present time.

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