Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for coming personally to deal with this matter because it is one of tremendous importance, and we know how topical it is in light of recent demonstrations. "Demonstration" is a very soft word for what has been happening in places such as Ashtown, where there have been attacks on people from different national, ethnic or racial groups. There is a significant risk that as a country we are allowing ourselves to go down a road where racism is becoming normal or somehow quasi-acceptable. What are we going to do to tackle that?

I acknowledge the presence in the Public Gallery of Emer O'Neill, an anti-racism activist who has been vocal, as a black Irish woman, in talking about her lived experience. While I note the bravery of my colleague, Senator Flynn, in respect of these kinds of issues, almost all the rest of us in this Chamber cannot understand the lived experience of people in this society who look different, come from different backgrounds or are of different ethnicities or races. When they go for a job interview or anywhere else, it is immediately obvious, in most cases, that they are different. The result of that is often discrimination, even if that is unconscious on the part of the person carrying out that discrimination. Almost everything about them, whether that is the way they look to their name, their background, where they attended college or whatever it might be, can tell an employer or someone else they are dealing with that they are a little different from an "Irish" person. That has resulted, in a number of instances about which I have been told, in people changing their names, for example.When they then go into an interview for a job, the employer realises that the person is not in fact who they expected. Emer O'Neill may be a case in point, because she sounds like an ordinary Irish person and she is mixed-race. If she goes into an interview, she is different from what the interviewer is expecting. This can have a knock-on effect for a person. This is what we are talking about when we talk about lived experience and the fact that we, or certainly I, cannot understand what that is. The reality, though, is that it has a huge impact on individuals, but also across society. One of the major issues is that it forces people to change who they are, what they have been and where they have come from. This is a shame, because one of the great benefits of cultural diversity is that it enhances our society and makes us stronger as a nation and a community. It renders this a nicer place to live if we are not totally homogenous in terms of the make-up of our society.

The other danger that comes with this situation is that if we let the message go out to our young people that somehow diversity is a bad thing or that somehow people of colour or people who are ethnically or racially different do not occupy positions of power or leadership, then they do not learn that this is a normal thing. They do not learn that it is perfectly normal to have people who are different from us in roles that involve leadership and power. Those young people who go to America or Britain for jobs, for example, and find themselves in a situation where their manager or their boss, or whoever, is ethnically different somehow do not understand how they are going to deal with that person. We are, therefore, doing a disservice to our young people if we do not deal with this issue.

Regarding what the Minister's Department needs to do, and I know he is strong on this issue of integration, we also know there is an anti-racism action plan. I understand it is ready to go and yet we have not seen it. This has never been more urgent than it is today. We have seen what happened in Ashtown even in the last week. This anti-racism action plan has never been as urgent as it is now. Where is this anti-racism action plan? What will the Minister's Department put in place to help us all understand the dangers and the harm that racism does? Equally, what are we doing to support those who are subjected to racial or ethnic abuse, to show them they are welcome, that the Government supports them and to put in place measures to ensure they know they have everyone's support, and not just that of a small number of people?