Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. We just have to turn on the radio or the television to feel the shock and devastation, brutality and horror of what is happening. The words that come back to me all the time are the unnecessary loss of life and devastation. This causes trauma at the time but it will live with these people for the rest of their lives. Intergenerationally, this experience will utterly change their lives forever. I also acknowledge the helplessness of the Ukrainian community in Ireland and how its members have felt watching this unfold. My heart goes out to them.

We are seeing the best of people in their generosity. These are not my words but I agree with them. We are seeing the best and worst of humanity in this. We must be wary of people who will seek to prey on vulnerable people through trafficking. I emphasise the need for resources in this area to look after the welfare of people. This will expose our own vulnerabilities in our health system and mental health services, housing, English as a foreign language teachers and specific supports in schools. The Minister and I are representatives who come from Dublin West. We are familiar with areas such as Tyrrelstown, where 80% of children going to school do not have English as a first language. This is an opportunity for us to focus on the vulnerabilities that already exist and to ensure we are overproviding in those areas to cope.

I was proud of what the Taoiseach said about the security checks on UK television last week and that our priority is a humanitarian response. I am also proud of what Mairéad McGuinness said today as European Commissioner concerning the common travel area, which is in the news today for all the wrong reasons. We have an open door policy. It is backed up by Government policy and supports. I wish the UK was following the same path, but it is not. Plenty of people in the North and the UK, however, want to open their arms as we are doing to support people. The homes for Ukraine scheme just does not match at present and it has more questions than answers. Any concern about people using the common travel area to take advantage is utterly wrong and does not reflect the supports here versus what the UK is offering.

The one-stop shop is fantastic, and then there are pathways to Jobs Ireland and Intreo. Further supports, including community supports, will be needed thereafter to meet people's needs, to avail of their existing skills that they might want to use, for example to help to care for other people, and to help them to develop new skills. They might want to learn English, for example. Technology exists to help in this context. I know from my exposure to the world of remote working that there are companies that do this type of thing. They can use maps to match people and I recommend that we look into it, because it could be a service for all. This is data-approved from a GDPR perspective and by the European Commission.Trauma comes first, and then if people want to engage with using skills or learning skills that is great, but areas such as the community employment scheme might be suitable as well.