Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to the House. We look forward to having her at the EU scrutiny committee next Wednesday afternoon. I tabled this motion out of sheer frustration. In 2022, when war broke out in Ukraine, County Clare, more than any other county, made people from Ukraine feel welcome. Over time, some of those people were accommodated privately, others went back to Ukraine or to other countries and others moved to Dublin. A significant number stayed in County Clare and embedded themselves in the county. Their children went to school, they got jobs and became friendly with people and built up relationships. The reason I tabled this motion is that there have been several examples in County Clare of people being uprooted when they should not have been.

In the first instance, my colleague, Councillor Tony Mulcahy, who is a former Senator, spoke to me about 40 Ukrainian people who were moved from Shannon to Lisdoonvarna. This is despite that fact that most of them work in Shannon, all the children go to school in Shannon and most of them had been in the town for the past two years. This happened again more recently in Kilbaha in west Clare. People in Kilbaha were initially reticent about welcoming Ukrainians but that was only the fear of the unknown. As soon as the families landed, they were given a huge céad míle fáilte. They settled into the community, got jobs, played in local sports clubs and the children went to school. The person who was providing the accommodation was happy with them. All members of the community in Kilbaha were 100% caring and considered the Ukrainians friends, yet the Department of integration decided to end the contract and move them to Lisdoonvarna. Ukrainian families in Kilkee were also moved, even though, again, they had been living in the area for 24 or 26 months.

That is the first point. The second point is that the unique aspect of all these stories is that all these people were moved to Lisdoonvarna. Contracts were ended in various parts of Clare, whether Shannon, Ennis or Kilbaha in west Clare, but no contract has ended in Lisdoonvarna. The town has five or six hotels and is predominantly dependent upon tourism. We have been very fortunate that in Lisdoonvarna there have been no anti-immigrant protests. The community has completely welcomed the migrants, the people from Ukraine and indeed the direct provision people who are also living in Lisdoonvarna.

What I am looking for is an overall strategy for County Clare. We need to see some hotels in Lisdoonvarna return to tourism. We need to see the people who are here from Ukraine treated with some respect.

We need to see people who are here from Ukraine, who have embedded in the communities and whose children are going to school in the communities, treated with some respect. I do not believe the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has any meaningful strategy for County Clare. I think it is making it up as it goes along. I want to see a county-by-county strategy that respects the people in the county, the people from Ukraine and the direct provision people in the county and the economic needs of the county. I do not think this is too much to ask given the Taoiseach has said we need to move from an emergency situation to a more medium-to-long-term strategy in terms of migration. This does not just mean Dublin and tents on Mount Street. It means all of Ireland, including County Clare. I was loath to table this Commencement matter. I have only done it during the very last days of the Seanad and have done so out of sheer frustration.