Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with the Leader in welcoming the students from St. Gerald's College, Castlebar. I thank Harry Gaughan for organising the visit. I had the pleasure of having him on an internship programme for several days a week as part of his schoolwork. He showed great interest and was anxious that his team would come and join him. His team is a big team. If Harry ever decides to go into politics, he will have a fairly significant canvassing team around him. We might not have as much excitement today as we did in the days he was here. The crisis at RTÉ in respect of licence fees was going on at the time. We do not blame Harry for that crisis blowing up, but it is a little calmer today.

Yesterday we discussed the issues that flared up on O'Connell Street last Thursday. Part of that debate is the issue of migration and the way in which that issue has been hijacked by elements of the far right. They have used it for their own political ideology. They have used social media and other channels to spread disinformation. This House, politics generally and people who have a right-minded approach to the way society should be ordered have a duty to counteract that. For decades, there has been an unwritten rule in Ireland that we do not discuss the race issue. We leave it alone and try not to push back against this far right thing. We now have a duty now to discuss it and push back. We need an open discussion. We need to counter the untruths that are being told. Unfortunately, certain people in society are, through no fault of their own, being fed untruths and misinformation that are leading them in a direction I do not believe their hearts or heads want to go. As a society, we must challenge this at every opportunity. I am not just talking about challenging the hard right on the streets, rather engaging in appropriate debate, generating truthful information from the centre and explaining our approach to migration. We should be explaining where these people are coming from, the lives they are leading, the pressures and unbelievable situations in many of their countries and why they need help and support. I hear the misinformation or disinformation about open borders and fighting-age men coming to Ireland, as if to provide a narrative, which is being pushed by the far right, that these people are coming to invade our country. Sadly, there are people who believe it. They believe it because those of us who see ourselves as being more middle of the road and responsible politically are not hammering back. We have not done so because there was an unwritten rule among politicians generally that you did not get into these debates; you just ignored these people and they went away. They are not going away. Rather, they are broadening their base. Through the use of social media in particular, they are disinforming people and creating a very dangerous situation. We should start an open and frank debate on this matter here in the Seanad and it should transcend to the Dáil and committees. If we start discussing these matters here in an open and frank way, it will permeate to create a greater debate in society.