Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail)

Members will have seen reporting this morning of the comments by the Minister for justice at the Institute of International and European Affairs about a case currently before the Court of Justice of the European Union and its expected outcome. In short, he advised that the likely outcome is that asylum seekers will soon be entitled to damages from the State for its failure to provide them with accommodation, while Irish homeless people and homeless people from other EU member states will have no such right. As the Minister pointed out, this will be very difficult to justify to Irish citizens and, indeed, citizens of any EU member state.

The expected outcome of this case sounds like lunacy. It will be deeply problematic and will only cause anger and frustration among our people. Ireland has faced unprecedented pressure in terms of asylum applications while trying to deal with existing shortfalls in housing. Despite that, the State has continued to act responsibly in dealing with asylum applications. There are Irish citizens experiencing homelessness and waiting on social housing lists. Those people have no entitlement to compensation. For asylum applicants to be given additional rights over them is incredibly unjust. If the case is decided as expected, it will be an example of the people who make decisions being so far removed from the practical implications of those decisions as to make them blind to what justice actually is.