Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the extension of the ARP scheme. As an activist, I think it is unjust how we treat one set of refugees, who are white and European, compared with how we treat people from the Middle East. It is a bit like years ago and even today with the gap between the rights of settled people and those of Travellers. More than anyone else here, I know exactly what it is like to be treated as somehow less than someone else. One set of refugees are treated with dignity, respect and love and all this jazz that we are talking about today, which is absolutely brilliant, but brown and black people are not afforded the same human rights, equality, dignity and respect but are attacked and abused on our streets.

I and the Civil Engagement Group welcome the extension until 26 March of the ARP. As other Senators have pointed out, this is not a solution for the homelessness crisis. This conversation has nothing to do with the Irish homelessness crisis. We have had a homelessness crisis in this country for at least 25 years. I know it has been more to the fore in the past five or six years but we have had a homelessness crisis for years. I do not think the two of them go hand in hand. Many homeless people I know would not like to share a home with another family. They want their own home, their freedom and a roof over their own heads. This would not be a solution for people who are homeless in Ireland.

I will not speak for long. I do not have a lot of notes. For me, what really stands out is the injustice and unfairness of how we treat black and brown refugees here. The Irish Red Cross and other organisations are in favour of extending this scheme to people and children from other countries who are also fleeing war, having gone through horrible, traumatic experiences, just like the white children of Ukraine, black children from Yemen and other countries are being traumatised as well. We are not here to say one child matters more than another. That is something the Department needs to think about.