Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Black in commenting on the increase in the number of far-right anti-immigration protests across the city. We have seen lots of them in Ballyfermot and Drimnagh in the constituency of Dublin South-Central. Thankfully, and really encouragingly, local groups are coming together and hold protests against the far right. We have the Drimnagh For All and Ballyfermot for All groups. Since these groups were set up, the number of far-right protests in our area has decreased. The last protest the far right tried to organise was dampened down. If communities are considering joining groups such as those to which I refer, they should know that what they do works. When communities come together and make a statement that they are taking a certain stance and will not accept racism, people hear that and follow suit. When they see community leaders taking a certain stance, it is very impactful. We need to keep talking about, keep myth busting and keep putting out information explaining to people regarding why people are seeking refuge and why conflating the issues is not the right thing to do. People coming here are not getting houses from people who are on waiting lists. Many refugees coming to this country are in emergency-style accommodation all over the country and you are not comparing like with like. There is so much feeding of our fears. When these groups come together to put a stop to that, however, it really works.

We need to look at the international protection process and the timeframes involved. It is really unfair that people seeking international protection have to wait so long. Many of them have deportation orders hanging over their heads. That is institutional bullying. It is horrendous when you see families that are not really living their lives because they have deportation orders over them. We need to look at systems to get people working and integrated, and, ultimately, to maintain our stance that we are against racism.