Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It would be remiss of me not to wish An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, all the best as he resigns and embarks on a new chapter in his life. It is always a big day in the Houses of the Oireachtas when a Taoiseach resigns, and we were all taken aback today by the resignation of Leo Varadkar. Even though he and I come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, he was always a politician of conviction from his side. I wish him and his Fine Gael colleagues the very best as they embark on the difficult internal process of choosing a new leader and, potentially, a new Tánaiste.

I raise the issue of the IPO applicants in Dublin who were moved on Saturday to Crooksling in the Dublin Mountains, a former nursing home that had been planned to be used for asylum seeker accommodation but was set on fire by far-right agitators a number of months ago. I think a lot of the men were very happy to be moving from Mount Street on Saturday because the conditions had become very unsanitary and there was a public health issue. There were no toilets or showers, there was waste in the street and there was no management of the public sphere there.

Unfortunately, however, the men were taken away and dumped at the border of Dublin and Wicklow in the Dublin Mountains and told they could pitch their tents there, while back in Dublin, people were cleaning up tents and taking away belongings from the men, some of whom had been taken surprise, and on which volunteers had spent thousands of euro in the preceding weeks. Some very good tents were destroyed and we do not know by whom. Some people have said it was done by people involved in the cleanup, while others said it was done by far-right agitators. One of the key questions that need to be answered concerns how protestors knew which site people were being taken to.By the time they arrived on Saturday there were anti-immigrant and far-right agitators outside ready to cause trouble in Crooksling. It put the men, the IPAS staff and the security staff in danger. There are real questions to be answered as to how they got word that is where people were going. We do not flag where asylum accommodation will be for that very reason and there are real questions as to how they knew and how they managed to arrive there so quickly. I ask the Leader to raise this matter with the Minister for integration and the Minister for Justice as to whether there is somebody within the Department who is letting that information slip out. It is very serious. Somebody at some stage will be hurt and killed if we do not take action on how people are finding out where very vulnerable applicants are being placed before they end up going there.