Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

I will begin by echoing what has been said about migration as a positive, a reality, as part of the human experience and a very particular part of the Irish experience. As acknowledged at the very beginning of the debate, we have emigrated for years. Part of Ireland's culture has been the experience of emigration and of those who were forced abroad in times of famine, poverty, political oppression and economic difficulty and for many other reasons. Emigrants have taken Ireland's songs and stories around the world and that has strengthened our culture. Our participation in the world has strengthened our culture and the world's participation in Ireland has strengthened our culture. Culture is an evolving thing and it speaks to the truth of human experience, of what it is to be human, to grow, to have a family, to hope and what we hope for, of places that matter and what it is to try to forge a life on this planet. That is part of culture and Ireland's voice and strength in culture is that we have spoken to the human experience and from the experience of our place. Sharing it makes that culture stronger. We see what is happening now in culture very much strengthened by those migrants who contribute to and participate in that culture.

When we talk about what is threatening our culture, perhaps we need to talk about one of the actual threats, which is the space occupied by social media algorithms, by companies owned by a very small number of oligarchs that are often driven by direct algorithmic logics of racism and in the interests of billionaires, many of whom are not based here in Ireland. They are influencing public dialogue and purporting to speak to the public while driving misinformation, hostility and division. That online space is a real threat to our collective communities and our culture because when we look to real communities on the ground and how people engage with each other, we see a decency there but that decency is being attacked. That is what is being attacked. Our culture, history and spirit of welcome, the céad míle fáilte - that is what is under attack from those who are gathering outside reception centres and threatening families. They are threatening Ireland's culture and Ireland's sense of itself.

I want to speak to a few of the key pieces of concern. I share the view that there are genuine concerns in local communities but let us be clear, there are some genuine concerns and there are some which have been created and manufactured. Genuine concerns relate to the way that the international protection system has been handed over to private, for-profit actors for far too long; the failure of the State to step up and deliver as it should; and the fact that the Housing for All strategy did not include a section on housing the migrant population. That was not part of the housing strategy but it should have been part of it. Other genuine concerns include the fact, for example, that not only are there 9,000 children accommodated in international protection accommodation centres, there are 7,000 in emergency IPAS centres that are not even subject to basic HIQA inspection. There are real human rights issues to be addressed in that system. However, what are not legitimate concerns are those expressed by people, sometimes in emails that I receive, who say that they do not want to have migrants near them; that they live in a small village and are worried the Government is going to bring 30 people into it. I refer to that idea of creating a culture of differentiation and driving a culture of fear that is absolutely not matched by any of the facts in relation to crime and issues such as abuse. I say that in the context of the fact that we need to address the real problem we have here, right now, in Ireland, which is the rise and facilitation of racism. It is something that we recognised as a problem 15 years ago. We actually had a national body, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, that recognised the importance of positive narratives of integration, planning for integration, supporting intercultural communication and tackling racism where it appeared.Instead, what we are getting now - this is the core issue that must be challenged - are implicit dog whistles. With regard to our culture and history, one of the lines that made me embarrassed to be Irish was one from the Minister for justice, who said he was committed to ensuring the island would not be viewed more favourably than the UK by those seeking to claim asylum. Therefore, we do not want Ireland viewed more favourably than what was one of the largest empires, an empire that spread colonialism and misery across populations right across the world. Is that what we want to look like rather than a country that understands what it is to survive famine and have that imposed on it and that knows what it is to have war imposed on it? We want to emulate a country that wants to pull the earrings out of asylum seekers’ ears as they come in, to pay for the sandwiches they might get. The remark was disgraceful and was not acceptable language coming from Ireland, given its history. I understand the genuine perspectives of many of those in government who are putting forward concrete ideas within this motion, but we cannot tolerate that language. When we do, we feed the negativity and a narrative that is not truly reflective of Irish culture or of what migration is.

One crucial point that we must fight, and it is not addressed in the motion, is a proposal within the EU migration pact that Ireland has not yet signed up to, namely, the idea of deporting people to countries they have nothing to do with. That is one of the problems. Thank goodness, Ireland has not yet agreed to that component. I am referring to the idea that the EU would deport somebody to another country because it had a deal with it. Let us be clear: that is the Rwanda plan, or the El Salvador model we are seeing in the US. Please let Ireland not go down that road. Let us have Ireland stand up for decency and reflect on our own culture, history and understanding of what it is to be in the world together.