Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I condemn unreservedly the attack on the IPAS centre in Drogheda and all attacks on IPAS centres up and down the country. In each of those cases, a human being has made a decision to inflict a violent act on another human being and that cannot be justified under any circumstances.

I am proud to be a TD for Dublin Mid-West, one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the country. I am proud of the fact that we have many people in my constituency who have come to our country from abroad and add hugely to our community. I have stood with them at their festivals and at their community gatherings and I view them as integral to the life of our constituency.

It is important today that we do not conflate the asylum seeker system with the overall question of migration. Today's debate is on the international protection system and the policy implications thereof. Core to this debate, as stated in the programme for Government, is the move towards State-owned and State-managed accommodation for those seeking international protection. The point I have made previously in meetings with Ministers and other colleagues around this House is that we are at a stage where we can design a blueprint for community engagement around the construction of what will become permanent facilities up and down the country. One such facility that has been purchased by the State is Citywest, in my constituency, which would have been a strong local amenity for the communities that lived in the Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle areas.

The Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, alluded to, and other Deputies mentioned, the blueprint for how we have advanced the purchase of that particular facility and for the recognition of the additional burden that it will put on the communities around it. When I use the word "burden", I am not casting aspersions on anyone; I am talking about sheer facts. In the 2022 census, there were almost 19,000 people in the Rathcoole, Saggart and Newcastle areas, an increase of 32% since 2016. We are three years ahead of the projections set in 2022. We are at the 2028 level of population in Newcastle, Rathcoole and Saggart and that does not take account of the additional residents that we put in the Citywest centre as well. That is part of the underpinning assumption that we need to have when we are talking about community engagement and the pressure that is put on services and nobody needs me to tell that the areas of Rathcoole, Saggart and Newcastle, like many areas in Dublin Mid-West, have been behind in the provision of services. For example, a Garda sub-district in Dublin Mid-West, Ronanstown, has a similar population to Rathcoole, Saggart and Newcastle and these areas would justify a full Garda sub-district. This is something I have been arguing for since being elected and have been doubling down on since the purchase of Citywest as well not because there is necessarily a correlation between crime and the number of asylum seekers, but because of the sheer number of people that are in that area and putting more residents in place there as well.

We have heard mention of public health nurses. We have heard calls for investment in amenities and green space that were at breaking point in areas such as Citywest previously. That is why community engagement needs to be more than a tick-box exercise with regards to saying we have met people, we have heard their feedback but there has not been any action on it. We need to show action in these places. We need to show recognition of the fact that we are making a good life and an integrated community for all people there and fundamental to that is the integrity of the asylum system, giving people an insight into what goes on in IPAS centres or the training facilities put in place for people who have been successful in their applications. Are we providing them with the skills that they need to live successfully in our country? Are we providing them with the language skills? These are questions that we need to ask and we need to look at how are providing the training and how are we putting these facilities in place to support these people in their journeys here, and ultimately how are we underpinning the community integration funds that we need to integrate these communities.

We have a lot of lessons to learn from the past few months. I look forward to working with the Minister to ensure that those lessons are learned from and we work for our communities.

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