Laura Harmon (Labour)

I want to bring up the arson attack at the weekend, which I would describe as attempted murder, on an IPAS centre at which a staircase was set on fire and children and women had to be evacuated as a result. What happened is deeply worrying. This has to be a turning point for us in Ireland. We need to wake up to the fact that we are emboldening people. We are emboldening racists. We absolutely have to tackle mistruths in relation to immigration and the people who come here to seek asylum, which is their right. As politicians and as public representatives, we need to ensure that all the political parties welcome those who are here, namely everybody living in this country. We need to make sure that when we speak about immigration, we are not deflecting from other issues like the housing crisis or wealth inequality. There are people who would like to stoke up fear in our society, for their own gain, among communities that have been marginalised because of housing and inequality, but not because of immigration. Ireland is not full. We are full of welcoming people. This is not who we are. That attack does not represent who we are.

At the weekend, I co-ordinated an event in Cork against racism. That was as a result of two months of planning. I was initially approached by the Indian community, who were concerned about attacks against their community. I thought it was very saddening that the Indian ambassador had to come out and warn citizens not to go out late at night or walk in dark places in case they might be attacked. We saw stories in Cork last September at the beginning of the college term, where people were going around with ropes and putting them around people's necks. Members of the Indian community in Cork were deeply troubled. We had a rally at the weekend that was very well attended. I am delighted to say that it had cross-party support and all the main political parties were there. We need more of that because we need to stay united.

We are unique in Ireland in that these ultraconservative and far-right political parties have not come to power here yet. We have to make sure they do not do so because the result of that would be the quashing of civil rights. We need to learn from other countries across Europe where this has happened. We have an opportunity to stop that happening here. We have worked hard over many decades to fight for equality. This is a country worth defending. We absolutely need to defend it.