Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Norris, in a very short period of time, I will speak to the generality around the Bill as opposed to coming in on every amendment as it comes before us. I will be very brief. The key word used by Senator Norris with regard to this piece of work by Senator Kelleher was "humane". That was the word that came to the fore when I listened to the previous debates on Second Stage, the lobbies and the people who will be and have been directly affected by this issue.

This issue is impacting on many families. Senator Norris rightly said that in the greater scheme of things, it is a relatively small number. It is not a huge influx. It is not scary bears coming off the boats to take up jobs, houses and school places and all this nonsense we hear at times when we bring forward understanding and humane legislation like Senator Kelleher's legislation. It is an important and humane piece of legislation. It is understanding of the reality of the life and period in which we live, given that the nuclear family unit is no longer the established and sole notion of what a family is or should be, if it ever was, certainly not in Ireland.

We profess to be the land of a thousand welcomes and an emigrant nation that understands the suffering that leads people to leave their homes and take up life elsewhere. Without rehashing all those clichés, and I use the term "cliché" respectfully because they are clichés for a reason, it is about time we put our money where our mouth is and ensure that we can compassionately make a better life for our refugee and asylum-seeking community but also understand that in order to do that and help that life develop and flourish, we can impact practically, tangibly and positively in bringing their families and loved ones here to be with them and help build not only their lives but the life of this State.