Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I carry on the theme referred to by Senator Dooley, with many hundreds of thousands of people that might be expected to come from Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Poland. I hope we will issue them with a major céad míle fáilte and welcome. I put this against a background of our celebrations for St. Patrick's Day. I extend my good wishes to the Taoiseach, who I know is stuck in the United States. I am sure he is not stuck and is using his time constructively. I wish him well and a speedy recovery before he returns. I thank and acknowledge the work of our Cathaoirleach, Senator Mark Daly, in the United States over the past ten days. He and the Taoiseach were effectively ambassadors for us, promoting and connecting with the Irish caucus and many others. We must always be very grateful for the strong Irish-American connection. We have fostered and developed it, taking advantage of it and leveraging it to a great extent for our own prosperity in the form of jobs and inward investment to the country. It is something that should be acknowledged.

I was in the UK some weeks ago as part of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I had an invitation to go to St. Martin-in-the-Fields to see at first hand the work going on there for the London Irish, the forgotten Irish for many. These are not people who left in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s or 1960s. They are people who left in the late 1980s and 1990s and they are now on the streets of London. They receive hospitality, care and support.

We have a history of being a displaced people and having emigration forced on us as people. I hope we have learned something and passed the stories down through generations. I know many of my family ended up in the United States many moons ago but they were richly connected to their humble origins, whether in Laois or the west of Ireland. They sent back money and kept the link, the hope and the ambition. Many of them had a successful opportunity to return. I hope we will be mindful of our past and open our hearts, our doors and our minds.

Looking at the history of many politicians in local communities, there has been resistance to direct provision. I am not in favour of direct provision centres themselves. I do not want to see people coming in from the Baltic states to be warehoused in direct provision centres. That is not how to welcome people into a country.I hope we will all genuinely sustain and prolong our compassion, affection and welcome for the people who are fleeing their country terrorised and that we take some responsibility with our neighbours in the European Union to support and sustain these people and families fleeing their homes.

It is important we all remember, and I know we do so here, that many Russians living in Ukraine are being forced out of their country. They are absolutely devastated by this and many of them are victims too.