Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to address the issue of direct provision centres. This House needs to have a serious debate on this issue. It is very easy to virtue signal on this issue and state that one is against a particular thing. A woman stated on the radio on Sunday that she disapproves of the centres. When asked by Brendan O'Connor for an alternative to them, she said, "Well, that is the difficulty." This country must be realistic and truthful. We cannot, at a time of housing shortage, simply say that every applicant for asylum goes to the top of the housing list. In the present circumstances, we cannot say that everybody who comes from Albania, Georgia or elsewhere and applies for asylum automatically becomes entitled to full social welfare. It is naive to think that such a regime could be put in place. We need a real discussion on what is wrong with our current system and why it is so unfair to so many people.

The real cause of injustice is that we are failing to deal in a timely manner with applicants for asylum. It is absurd that it can take years to go through the process. Either people are entitled, prima facie, to asylum protection or they are not. The second thing about which we must be honest is the economic migrancy. It is not the same as asylum-seeking. Although many of us will see similarities between the plight of the Irish going on coffin ships in the 19th century and some of the people getting onto RIBs to cross the Mediterranean in the present day, we must be truthful that economic migrancy is something which must be dealt with by the law and through legal processes. It is not a question of simply turning a blind eye to the difference between the entitlement to refugee protection and the need for the State to be clear that it is a cause of concern that so many people from places such as Georgia and Albania - both of which are trying to get into the EU and are safe countries - have suddenly applied for refugee status. The real reason is that it is our own fault that we have a system which entertains delay and creates the opportunity for people to pose as refugees for a long time when, in fact-----