Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann: acknowledges that:

- Irish people have emigrated throughout the world in times of famine and during times of economic difficulties and have helped build cities and communities wherever they went;

- Ireland benefits from migration;

- immigration to Ireland has been increasing in line with our increased prosperity;

- we are a small, open economy which relies on trade and investment to deliver economic and jobs growth, and raise living standards;

- thousands of people come to Ireland to work, to study and to fill essential skills gaps, and they make a significant contribution to our society;

- there are genuine concerns by local communities around the provision of international protection, however Ireland, like every other democratic state, is not immune from the threat of violent extremism, something which can never be tolerated;

- Ireland officially opted into the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum following votes of both the Dáil and Seanad;

- since February 2022, over 120,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine have been granted temporary protection in Ireland, with an estimated 83,000 remaining resident in the State;

- nearly 33,000 people, of whom over 9,000 are children, are being accommodated in international protection accommodation (IPAS);

- at the end of 2021, IPAS accommodated just over 7,000 people and numbers increased during an unprecedented surge in applications from 2022 to 2024;

- over 90,000 people have come to Ireland to work in the last three years through the work permit scheme, while 40,000 students choose to study here;

- there has been widespread condemnation across the country of the recent arson attack on an IPAS centre in Drogheda;

notes that:

- according to the CSO that the estimated population of Ireland was 5.38 million people (April 2024) of which 84.5 per cent are Irish citizens and 15.5 per cent are citizens of other countries, the majority of those being from other EU countries and the United Kingdom;

- 2.8 million people are working in Ireland according to latest statistics and 500,000 of them are non-Irish citizens, equating to one in five workers in Ireland;

- responsibility for international protection accommodation and integration has returned to the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration as agreed under the Programme for Government;

- there is a Programme for Government commitment to introduce a new International Protection Act to implement the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will strengthen and integrate key EU policies on migration, asylum, border management and integration;

- new domestic legislation will be enacted in 2026 to provide for faster processing of applications, stronger border security, and a more efficient returns system;

- the Government launched a procurement process, in June 2024, for charter deportation flights and has successfully utilised such services for the purpose of deporting and returning individuals who no longer have permission to remain in the State;

- the accelerated decision process for international protection now applies to/in the following:

- 15 ‘safe countries’;

- applicants who have received protection elsewhere in Europe;

- those from a country with a particularly high number of applications;

urges the Government to:

- invest additional resources to ensure that we can quickly process visa and immigration permissions;

- remain responsive to our economic needs including our skills needs across the health and care, agriculture, construction and multinational sectors;

- continue to implement a firmer migration system that enhances border security, streamlines processing, ensures faster removals, and protects the integrity of our immigration framework, while supporting those in need;

- implement clear timelines to ensure that all applications are processed efficiently;

- implement stronger border security, including increasing the collection of fingerprints and photographs from new arrivals, enhancing our ability to verify identities;

- continue to invest in English language classes for people seeking international protection;

- enforce policies to protect migrants from exploitation and abuse, highlighting the social and economic benefits of migration to counter anti-immigration sentiments;

- continue to improve value for money in the accommodation system, moving away from relying on private providers towards a core of State-owned accommodation;

- require international protection applicants to contribute towards their accommodation costs;

- ensure that people who arrive here from safe countries, with false or no documents, or who have crossed borders illegally are subject to an accelerated processing system so that decisions are made quickly;

- ensure that any applicant whose international protection application has been refused in another EU member state will be subject to an accelerated hearing under an inadmissibility procedure;

- publish a new national Migration and Integration Strategy;

- invest in integration programmes that support language learning, as well as broader social, cultural and sporting exchange, and access to essential public services such as

education and healthcare, facilitating smoother transitions for migrants;

- develop community-led initiatives to foster connections between migrants and local populations, particularly in areas receiving a high number of new arrivals, to build strong community ties;

- renew the focus and the purpose of the Community Recognition Fund to ensure it meets the needs of local communities which are supporting new arrivals and to ensure every community benefits to guarantee supports for vital services.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, to the House to discuss and debate this motion on the important issue of migration.