Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for inviting me and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to speak on the topic of migration.

Conflict, persecution and violence are forcing a record number of people around the world to flee their homes. Just last month, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, reported that the overall number of people forced to flee their homes in such circumstances rose to 120 million. This is double the figure for 2014 just ten years previously. Listening to the news, it would sometimes be easy to feel that all these people are coming here or to the rest of the EU, or that it is our social welfare systems that attract people and not the fear of violence, conflict or the destruction of their homes and livelihoods. However, the vast majority of people who flee their homes remain in or close to their own countries as internally displaced persons. Of the world’s 43 million refugees, three quarters remain in low- and middle-income countries. When we speak about migration issues, it is important to keep these figures in mind and to remind ourselves that this is a challenge being faced by nearly every country in the world, not just our own.

Nevertheless, the rise in the number of global conflicts has resulted in an increase in the number of people coming to Ireland and Europe seeking safety. This situation has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which has forced the largest number of people to flee their homes in Europe since the Second World War. As a result, Ireland and many other countries have had to rapidly reassess the manner in which they receive people fleeing in search of safety. Previous planning figures have had to be revised for a new world, in which conflict and persecution are sadly becoming more commonplace. In large part, Ireland has been successful in doing so. Communities throughout the country have recognised the unique circumstances in which people have arrived in this country and have taken every opportunity to welcome them. By way of example, more than 820 projects in areas including sport, the arts and employment have been funded under the communities integration fund since 2017, as host communities and migrants look at ways to promote the integration of migrants and refugees.

Meanwhile, more than 108,000 people have been granted temporary protection in Ireland due to the Ukraine war, of whom some 43,000 are now living in State-supported accommodation. Some 31,000 people who applied for international protection are also being accommodated by the State, compared with 8,300 in January 2022. Accommodating this number of people in such a short time has presented challenges, of course. Despite intensive efforts to source emergency accommodation, the State is currently not in a position to provide accommodation to all international protection applicants due to the severe shortages that exist. As a result, there are currently 2,300 single male applicants who have not been offered accommodation by the State. In order to ensure the most vulnerable people are prioritised for accommodation, a vulnerability triage is in place to identify such people in this cohort.

In addition to this, there are intensive, ongoing efforts to accommodate people who have been identified as rough sleeping, as accommodation becomes available. Working with statutory agencies and homeless services, almost 200 people have been accommodated in the past two weeks through these referrals. Those not offered accommodation are now receiving an increased expense allowance of €113.80 a week. This reflects the €75 increase applied earlier this year, bringing Ireland in line with similar payments made to applicants in other EU member states. In tandem with the increased allowance, the State is also supporting a number of service providers in the Dublin area to provide support, including food and sanitary facilities, to people.

The Government is clear that there has to be a change in the State’s approach to accommodation for international protection applicants. The short-termism characterised by the over-reliance on commercial providers has to come to an end. We have to provide certainty and security to those in the international protection process and to the Irish public about international protection accommodation. That is why a new comprehensive accommodation strategy was approved by the Government in March of this year. The strategy will create long-term certainty over accommodation availability by creating mixed accommodation, with increased emphasis on a large, core, State-owned supply, while responding to the immediate challenges in relation to accommodation. Importantly, it will also involve a move away from full reliance on private providers towards a core of State-owned accommodation, delivering 14,000 State-owned beds by 2028 supplemented, as required, by high-standard commercial providers. In 2024 and 2025, it aims to convert commercial properties to international protection accommodation and acquire and utilise HSE and State lands to develop fast prefabricated and other modern methods of construction to quickly bring accommodation on stream. The strategy is one of a number of measures being taken by the State in the short term to address the immediate needs of international protection applicants.

The strategy is already delivering. In the three months since its launch, we have brought into immediate use several State-owned sites, with work ongoing to develop more. This has allowed us to offer accommodation to more than 1,000 people who had previously been unaccommodated. Over time, these sites will be developed to provide higher standard accommodation. Alongside this, we have also undertaken an expression of interest process and are working with commercial estate agents throughout the country to bring larger scale offices and commercial buildings into use. I am confident this will deliver further beds into the system later this year. All of this is being done to provide certainty and security within the system, as well as delivering long-term savings for the taxpayer.

It is likely that people will continue to arrive in this country seeking safety. Those figures may fluctuate over time due to a variety of reasons, and may be affected by changes in policy and service provision that take place in other nations.No matter what happens, we must be honest about the reasons people are coming here and be very clear in our humanitarian and legal duties to receive, support and review applications for protection in Ireland from people, who through no fault of their own, have been forced to seek safety abroad. We also need to stand in solidarity with the people seeking protection here to challenge the aggression that has been shown and the misinformation being promoted by those who are hampering and impeding the State's efforts to source and establish sufficient accommodation for people who need it. As a nation that over centuries saw so many Irish people emigrate to find safety or work, the Irish people understand what it means to migrate in search of shelter and stability. It is fair to say there is not one person in this Chamber who does not have a family member who went abroad seeking work, to build an opportunity, to build a life and to support his or her family back home. We know we have a history of this and understand it. That is why the Government is committed to supporting all those seeking refuge in Ireland and will continue to work to source, develop and support the services they require.