Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I commend him on the work he has done in the past year. It has been an incredibly difficult situation for our country, our people and our Government to try to get a handle on and deal with. I have heard questions over the past year asking why had we not planned better for this and why could we not have done more. It is not a situation we could have planned for. No country could have planned for this level of influx of refugees into our country. Our people deserve great credit for how they have dealt with this, and how they have opened their homes and their hearts to welcoming refugees from all countries into their communities.

A lot of the time there is a huge focus on the stuff we hear, or which is published in the media a little bit more, which is from small groups online pushing certain agendas. The vast majority of the stories over the past year are positive and happy of communities that want to get refugees in their communities integrated into schools, employment and accommodation. We have had stories of communities that want to hold on to those who have come to them and they do not want them moved out. Those are the positive stories. Ireland is a small country of just over five million people. For us to have accommodated 70,000 refugees in one year is phenomenal. Not only have we done this through government accommodation, people have given rooms in their own homes and offered up vacant accommodation they have. There is lots of good news to be had in this story, despite it being a challenging situation and despite the fact the war is ongoing and people are still fleeing Ukraine. This is not going to end today or tomorrow.

Every member state is dealing with the pressures the situation has brought on us. In challenging circumstances we have done well to do what we have done to date. That has not been without its challenges. I share the concerns of many other Senators, and of the Minister I am sure, that we want to be able to offer accommodation to everyone who comes into our State seeking protection. There have been times when this has not happened. It is understandable, however, because there is only so much we can do on any given day. We have done our very best to get people back into accommodation and back in when we can. I am aware that every effort is being made by the Minister and his Department.

There are two areas I want to home in on, and I would appreciate the Minister's comments. When he addressed the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party before Christmas, he spoke of the challenges he anticipated he would face come March or April when the tourism season would begin in most areas, and the lack of availability of bed nights. In my county of Mayo it is a concern not just for the hoteliers but also for the smaller businesses that reply on those hotels having people come to stay in their area. It is the small coffee shop, the restaurant, and the pub. It is all the smaller businesses that rely on the hotels being full of tourists for the tourism season. The Minister will be aware that in rural areas in particular, such as in counties Mayo, Donegal, Kerry outside some of the bigger multinationals tourism and hospitality are the biggest employers and where most people work. What are we going to do if hotels do renege on or pull back from contracts and we do not have alternative accommodation? What do we say to those smaller businesses? What is the plan for the next months? Is there a plan or what can we do to try to address the genuine concerns being raised by small businesses? It is not because they are anti-refugee and it is not because they are racist because they are not. They are genuinely concerned for their small businesses and want to know what the plan is for the next months and whether we are going to support them. Perhaps we can look at some financial measures that might be able to assist those smaller businesses, working with other colleagues in government because the Minister's Department has enough on its plate. Are there other measures, such as financial assistance, to acknowledge that financially this will be a difficult period for those smaller hospitality businesses that may not have the same footfall because the hotels are full in some areas? This means we must acknowledge it and deal with it now as opposed to waiting for that cliff edge in April or May, with those small businesses saying they are not getting the bookings in their restaurants and are not seeing the footfall in their coffee shops. We need to acknowledge that they are worried and try to put some financial package in place in advance of that.

I am aware this is not under the remit of the Minister's Department, as such, but perhaps he might talk to his Government colleagues about how we might do something in that space. Ultimately, people need somewhere to stay and they need a roof over their heads. We must be practical and realistic about what we can do. It may be the case that those bed nights will not be available for the summer period. If that is the case, there needs to be financial supports for those businesses to get them through this bump, which they will go through.

There are plans afoot to try to get some modular units to try to provide that alternative accommodation so we can get people out of hotels and into more semi-permanent accommodation. I am concerned that when these units are built initially they will look lovely and will look fantastic, but they will not last forever. Some conversations need to be had with the local authorities on how these units will be maintained. In ten or 15 years, we do not want that these particular builds to look grubby and rundown; we want them to look like the nice part of the community they were put into. This is something to be mindful of. It was raised with me locally as to whether these modular units would fall into disrepair at a quicker pace and I was asked how they would look in 15 years. This is a concern for communities. These are the kinds of issues to consider as we try to get planning across the line for these units and we must address these concerns being raised by local residents.