Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

I join with colleagues in condemning the despicable attacks in Drogheda. I hope those responsible are brought to justice and face very serious consequences for their actions. This island has a storied history of migration. We have seen many generations forced to emigrate due to famine and economic necessity. Today, famine and war still remain in the world along with conflict and people who are in need of international protection. Ireland must continue to play our part in providing international protection. However, this role must be managed, fair and robust.

The current international protection system has been completely mismanaged. Decisions are taking far too long. Appeals are taking too long and the rules are not being enforced. This has been ongoing for years under the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Let us take the number of deportations over the past four years. During this period, over 6,600 deportation orders were issued, yet only 667 deportations were confirmed. That is about a 10% completion rate. How can the Government stand over that? For a system to work and to have public confidence, the rules must be followed and enforced.

To make matters worse, the Government has now made the decision to hand over our migration powers to the EU by signing up to the migration pact. That hands away our sovereignty. It will impede our ability to make decisions for ourselves about migration and international protection.

On the delivery of IPAS accommodation, we have seen large scale abuse of taxpayer's money. This abuse has ranged from private IPAS operators charging the State VAT when IPAS accommodation is VAT exempt right through to other operators being paid by the State for beds that do not even exist. There are clears examples of private companies and individuals profiteering from the IPAS system and it is no wonder there is such distrust of the system.

In my own constituency, I have seen abysmal communication between the Department and local communities when there are proposals to establish new IPAS centres. Legitimate concerns of local residents have not been addressed and there has been no real plan for resourcing local communities that host international protection applicants. This is a system that fails both communities and asylum seekers alike. Significant work needs to be done to improve our system. Sinn Féin believes in a system that is robust, efficient, ends private profiteering and crucially, ensures decisions are enforced.

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