Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach inniu. I commend my colleagues on the Fine Gael benches for bringing forward this motion. It is vitally important that we can have a calm and fact-based discussion on this particular issue. Often, unfortunately, particularly on social media, that space is not available to us. Looking at the figures for last year, we can see how Ireland as we have known it, and as I knew it as a young person, has changed. There were 125,300 immigrants in Ireland in the past 12 months. That is a 16% decrease on 2024. A total of 31,500, or 25%, were returning Irish citizens. Some 25,300, or 20%, were from other EU counties and 4,900, or 4%, were UK citizens, while 63,000, or 51%, were from other countries. If we look at where the vast majority of these people are, most of them are working. Our medical services would come to a halt if we did not have these people coming here. Senator Byrne mentioned the doctors in his contribution. Something like over 40% of all doctors operating here, which is over 21,000 or so, trained outside of Ireland. Similarly, over 54% of the nurses working in our hospitals trained outside of Ireland. That is over 77,000 nurses. It is clear to see that without people coming in our economy, which is hugely successful, would grind to a halt. It is important to make that point.

In relation to the international protection applications of those coming here, it is important that we have a rule-based system that is fair but firm. We have to face up to the fact that too many people are coming to our country who are not entitled to be here. That is a fact. They are clogging up the system and doing a disservice to the genuine applicants who are coming here fleeing war and persecution and so on. There is a 40% reduction in the number of international protection applicants this year compared with last year. A total of 80% of applicants had their applications rejected in the first instance. That highlights what is going on here. Some 67% of those who appealed have had their appeals rejected. Clearly, we can see that our system is being abused. That is putting a huge pressure on the system, housing and so on. The vast majority of international protection applicants are not coming through our ports or airports; they are coming through from Northern Ireland. The most recent data available to us - the Minister of State can correct me if I am wrong - indicates that in excess of 87% of applicants coming here are coming via the UK. That is a serious problem. None of us here are going to advocate to close the borders. However, we have a serious problem in that regard. We need to speak and stay close to the UK in relation to that to try to bring that figure down because it is hugely problematic.Another issue we have here is that of secondary movements, which is where somebody flees their country of origin, arrives in some other EU state and then hops from there to Ireland. I do not know the most recent statistics in that regard but I contend that it is very high.

The Government has made progress but more progress must be made in dealing with international protection applicants. The whole system is still too slow. We have increased the number of safe countries to something like 15 and we are turning around applications in the first instance in about three to four months, which is huge progress. The number of people working in the International Protection Office has increased significantly, by more than 300%, to over 600 now. We still have issues with appeals and judicial reviews. It could take up to 12 months or longer to deal with those. The Minister might elaborate in his contribution to the legislation that is being considered for the setting up of a new entity to deal with those applications and perhaps fast-track them.

I will finish on this point. The most significant development in this space recently has been the plans of the UK Government. We must be very cognisant of what is going on there, bearing in mind the number of people coming in through the UK. We must remain nimble and agile. I am glad that both Ministers have stated publicly that the Government is keeping a very close eye on that, as it is hugely important.

We must also welcome all those who come here on work permits. They are coming to do work that is vital to the economy. We need to look at the reunification part of that, which allows family members to come here. We must get a handle on that as well.

I very much welcome this debate. I have no doubt that everybody will make their contribution in a very fair-minded manner. That is a space we do not often see. I very much welcome the debate.