Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome to the House. I do not propose to address the sections of the Bill that deal with the Stardust inquest in circumstances where I am involved in those inquests in a legal capacity. I will leave that issue alone. Broadly speaking, and on behalf of the Fine Gael group, I welcome the Bill. There are important provisions throughout the Bill. I will speak in particular about the provisions relating to Ukraine and Ireland's response to the crisis there.

I have previously said in this House that I am tremendously proud of how we, as a Government and a society, have responded to the crisis that has been thrust upon the Ukrainian people. I welcome those who have made their way into societies and communities in Ireland. That reflects very well on Ireland. Ukrainian Members of Parliament, including the four who visited this House not very long ago, are astonished at the flexibility of our Government in dealing, for example, with the immigration issue. From a justice perspective, the ability of a government to react to that crisis and to remove immigration restrictions on Ukrainian citizens coming to Ireland was not just a function of our having a smaller Government than many of our European neighbours; I would like to think it was also a function of the compassion of our Government in its response to crises such as this one. Those Ukrainian Members of Parliament were extremely impressed by the fact that those restrictions could be removed so quickly and effectively to allow Ukrainians to come here. I remember having this conversation with the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. From the very beginning, immigrants merely had to say they were coming from Ukraine. Driving licences, for example, were sufficient to establish from where they were coming. That is the way it should be. It should be that way across Europe but I know it has not been. I congratulate the Government on that. I am delighted that kind of measure is now being put on a statutory footing in this Bill. That is welcome.

It is also important for us to put in place the other measures about which the Minister has talked, including, for example, in respect of driver's licences, as I mentioned, to ensure people who are staying here longer term are in a position to stay here with the minimum of bureaucratic fuss and obstruction. That is very important, as are the changes under the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the changes to the transport provisions.

This is an omnibus Bill insofar as it puts a number of things together. I understand there are other regulatory responses to the crisis but it is important for us to put on a statutory footing an acknowledgement of the importance of welcoming people into this community and facilitating them, where possible. One glitch in that system, and notwithstanding the recommendation of the European Commission and the directive generally in relation to people seeking temporary protection, is the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. It is an issue I have previously raised in this House. People are coming here with professional qualifications, whether medical, engineering, legal or whatever else. I know that in many sectors such people are having difficulty obtaining the status of their professional position in this country relative to what might have been the case had they stayed in Ukraine. It is important that we, as a government, take steps to remind professional bodies that they must accommodate those people coming here. I am most familiar with the position in respect of lawyers. I had a meeting a couple of weeks ago with a number of Ukrainian lawyers who are working here but not as lawyers per se. Some of them are working in law firms but in paralegal roles. The difficulty is not that they cannot work, because all of these people have transferable skills that any employer in this jurisdiction would welcome, but that they are not recognised at the level they should be and are presumably not being paid at that level. They cannot bill clients at that level or operate at that level. There will be other difficulties for them in terms of language, systems and things like that. However, the European Commission and our own Government have made it clear that we should be recognising these qualifications. I am using law as an example but the same situation applies to teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers. People come here with enormous professional expertise and can contribute to this community in the same way they did to theirs before they were forced to leave. They want to contribute and to be a functioning part of society. We should be doing everything we can to accommodate those people. There is also a selfish benefit to us because we need the benefit of professionals. We know there are shortages of nurses and doctors, for example. We know there are shortages of skills in those areas. This is not an issue that is specifically addressed in this legislation. It is already part of the law. I ask that we redouble our efforts to make it clear to professional bodies that they should be going out of their way to put in place structures to accommodate Ukrainian professionals who have to come here to ensure they can work here in the same capacity and contribute at the same level here as they were able to do in Ukraine.

On behalf of the Fine Gael group, let me say there is much good in this Bill. There are progressive, albeit technical, elements to it. Those elements have a real, on-the-ground meaning for people who are coming here and that is why it is very welcome. We must do whatever we can to smooth that path for people as they come and, as we all hope, leave soon and return to their homes, businesses and livelihoods in Ukraine. We want to make the transition in and out as easy as possible, or allow those Ukrainians to stay if that is what they want. Speaking to Ukrainian friends, I know they are extremely anxious that they will lose their population to places such as Ireland and that the people who come here will find it easier to stay. While we would love that, there is obviously an imperative from the point of view of rebuilding Ukraine after the conflict. I know the Ukrainian polity wants them to be part of that and the Ukrainians themselves may also wish to be a part of it. I welcome these statutory effects which smooth the transition for anybody who has to come here.