Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It genuinely gives me hope to see the good turnout on Saturday on our streets. It is people power and people fighting back.

An equally important matter relates to the budget. I genuinely welcome the €2 billion that has been provided for humanitarian supports for refugees but it has been bluntly and openly stated that it is for Ukrainian refugees. While I am a big fan of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, I am in here two and a half years and it is more than a year and a half since the White Paper was published but I have not seen an end in sight for direct provision. I am not living in those horrible situations or living through that life experience. People in direct provision are in desperate need of answers. Before the summer recess, the Leader said she would try to get that debate with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. I am begging him, along with all the human rights organisations in the country, to include all refugees. When I am with the Traveller community, I make the point that when women are here but men are there in terms of how they are treated, there is something wrong with our culture. As a society, we are putting white refugees here but black refugees there.There is something wrong with that. The Minister needs to come to the House and address the refugee crisis in general.

At 2.30 p.m. yesterday, a fire struck Labre Park site. If seven children there had been in a caravan they would have lost their lives, which would have been a tragedy similar to what happened in Carrickmines. The safety switch for the electricity did not work in the trailer. I call on the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to come to the House, speak to us and provide us with Traveller appropriate accommodation. We are waiting for another Carrickmines to happen. It was sheer luck that seven weeks ago a fire wall was installed to separate two of the caravans at the end of the Labre Park site. The impact of the fire was devastating. Only ashes are left. The fire could have extended to the next trailer. Halting sites need to provide appropriate accommodation.