Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The entire festival was a very ambitious effort and it has been a very positive experience. It was well worth it to celebrate the diversity that Polish people bring to this country. The sporting element of the event is very important also. We were down a man in the Seanad but that is the way it goes.

A recent study from NUI Galway showed that the most effective way to get Muslim youth integrated into society is through participation in sport.Therefore, I think that sports, particularly local GAA and soccer clubs, have an important part to play. Basing the PolskaÉire festival around the Ireland-Poland match recognised the powerful effect that sports can have in creating communities.

I wish to refer briefly to the issue of direct provision, which I have raised a number of times in this House. Before the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, was appointed to his current portfolio, he was very vocal on the need for reform of the direct provision system. I brought this matter to his attention here just after he had been appointed and I applaud his commitment to that reform since assuming his ministerial role. He and his colleagues in the Department of Justice and Equality have launched the working group on direct provision. In addition, last week they published the heads of the international protection Bill. This will be the biggest change to refugee law in this country in 20 years.

I want to see these new application procedures speed up decisions on asylum applications, as well as reducing the time during which applicants are left in limbo. It is so difficult to build a new life in any country, but it is reprehensible to expect people to do so without the basic freedoms that most of us enjoy, such as the right to work and to choose where we live. The sooner these applicants can have a fair decision and truly integrate into Irish society, the better.

I also want to talk about the economic benefits that immigrants bring to this country. Currently, there is much discussion in the media about the debate in the UK on a referendum to leave the EU, known as Brexit. A large part of that debate is focused on anti-immigrant sentiment which is widespread and growing across Europe. We must not let ourselves succumb to misinformation, however. The UK general election is looming and the likes of UKIP and the Conservative Party are running on a strong anti-immigration platform and are seriously considering a UK exit from the EU.

In the struggle for economic recovery from the global financial crisis, immigrants are being demonised and used as scapegoats for large-scale unemployment in certain sectors of society. New evidence, however, shows that European immigrants are having a positive impact in the UK, despite popular opinion. For example, data from the UCL centre for research and analysis of migration show that European immigrants in the UK have paid more in taxes than they have received in benefits and have helped to relieve the fiscal burden on UK-born workers, as well as contributing to financing public services. European immigrants who have arrived in the UK since 2000 have contributed more than £20 billion to UK public finances between 2001 and 2011. Additionally, they provide productive human capital that would otherwise have cost the UK £6.8 billion in spending on education.

It is not a far stretch to apply the same results to Ireland. The 2011 census figures show that one in three newcomers to this country has a degree or other higher education qualification. Immigrants in this country comprise well-educated and hard-working people who have chosen to be part of Irish society. They are contributing to the economic recovery of this country, as well as to the cultural and social richness of modern Irish life.

It is important to have a Government position dedicated to addressing the needs of new communities. More important, however, is to get representatives from these new communities into politics and public representation. Many non-Irish citizens do not realise that they have a right to vote. Due to a lack of information they are shut out of participating in Irish political life. Opportunities are thus lost to hear the views of these communities directly and to have policies that reflect these views. We need to work hard to change this.

I welcome the comments last week by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, at a USI conference in Athlone. She addressed the issue of college fees for asylum applicants. Due to the cost of third-level education, these young people are not progressing and are shut out of education. Last year, the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, and I attended the Tom Johnson Summer School. We spoke to a young mother whose daughter gave a poignant example of how she was shut out of the Irish educational system by having no opportunity to progress post-leaving certificate into university.