Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)

I would like to be associated with the words of condemnation of what happened in Drogheda, as my party colleagues have pointed out.

I speak for the 82% of Irish people who feel unheard, unseen and forgotten in this country. The Government has lost control of migration, lost control of enforcement and lost the confidence of the nation. What we have now is a system without fairness and without end in sight. Appeals have surged by 46% in six months from 9,700 to 14,134. Deportation orders had been issued but from June only 160 have been acted on by removal charter. That is not order; that is abdication.

Nearly €1 billion each year is being spent on accommodation for international protection applicants. Some of them, as was pointed out to the House, have an unusual relationship with CAB. Others have very unusual relationships with Fianna Fáil. This is while Irish citizens who built and paid into this country cannot find a home, cannot find a GP, cannot find a dentist and cannot get extra services into their classrooms. Many of them have told me that they have lost their sense of security within their own community. There is nobody talking about that. We must put Irish people first. We must protect our own citizens and house our own homeless before we try to impress the boys in Brussels. Charity should always begin at home when it comes to our citizens. Our duty is to our own people, not for the good of the boys in Europe and to impress those and to be the best in class.

We walk through villages in Ireland today and they do not reflect Irish society anymore. Many people are saying to me that they do not feel safe because they were in a small village, their hotel has been taken away from them, everything has been taken away from them and there is a huge influx of a new society which is being put upon them and no consultation given to them at that time.

We look across to Europe and see that countries are taking back control. Countries like Denmark are enforcing great and proper immigration and well structured immigration laws. Poland is defending its borders. Hungary will not be lectured by bureaucrats in Brussels. Ireland meanwhile rewards the policy failures of this Government with hotel rooms and handouts.

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