Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I extand a comhghairdeas mór to our new Uachtarán na hÉireann, Catherine Connolly, on her historic landslide win. I know as President she will do us proud just as Michael D. Higgins has done.

I also want to acknowledge the loss of the great Sr. Stan. She did the State immense service through her work on social justice and she leaves a truly remarkable legacy. May she rest in peace.

I condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on an IPAS centre in Drogheda on Friday. The lives of children were seriously endangered in the setting of a deliberate fire. Two babies, including one who is only 20 days old, were hospitalised in what was a hideous criminal attack. I know my colleagues in Drogheda, Deputy Ged Nash and Councillors Michelle Hall and Pio Smith, are working to support all those affected. I pay tribute to the courage of the firefighters who saved lives on Friday night.

In the context of that horrific attack and the awful riot in City West, I want to raise two matters today. The first is how we stamp out racist violence and the second is the way in which Government policy and rhetoric emanating from Members of this House can stoke anti-immigrant sentiments that form the thin end of what is a wicked, violent wedge.

More than 300 IPAS and Ukraine accommodation centres operate across the country. They are people’s homes. Dozens of times in recent years, residents have faced attacks and violence in what are modern-day pogroms. In my own constituency, I work with volunteers who are dealing with knife attacks on men who are forced to sleep in tents due to the Government's failure to house them. The State must step in. The Government must now undertake an urgent security review of all centres where refugees or people seeking asylum are living. Completing this work in advance of the second anniversary of the Dublin riots would be an appropriate deadline.

We also need a reflection on and a review of the language used and policies implemented by the Government. The conflation of immigration with criminality in rhetoric can contribute to an environment where violence can develop. So too can irresponsible rhetoric that blames the housing crisis or the lack of public services on immigrants.

Regrettably the three largest parties in this House, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, have recently issued communications that have leant into anti-migrant sentiment. These are not comments from rogue Government Members, in the case of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, either. This week, the Tánaiste said that our migration numbers are too high. He implied that people facing deportation make up a significant proportion of Ireland’s inward migration. Of course, this is wrong. However, it was not a slip of the tongue. His Fine Gael colleagues have since repeated it, and the Minister's party leader, the Taoiseach, has backed him.

Minister, you are in Government. Any flaws in the asylum system are your responsibility. Your party colleague holds the justice and migration brief. Any blame for the failure to provide fair and effective procedures lies not at the feet of people seeking asylum but with your Government and previous governments. Will you undertake a safety audit of accommodation? Will you now advance a public information campaign on the benefits to this country of inward migration and the facts about immigration?

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