Mark Wall (Labour)
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The Minister has ten minutes to open the debate.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank Senators for inviting me and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to speak on the topic of migration.

Conflict, persecution and violence are forcing a record number of people around the world to flee their homes. Just last month, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, reported that the overall number of people forced to flee their homes in such circumstances rose to 120 million. This is double the figure for 2014 just ten years previously. Listening to the news, it would sometimes be easy to feel that all these people are coming here or to the rest of the EU, or that it is our social welfare systems that attract people and not the fear of violence, conflict or the destruction of their homes and livelihoods. However, the vast majority of people who flee their homes remain in or close to their own countries as internally displaced persons. Of the world’s 43 million refugees, three quarters remain in low- and middle-income countries. When we speak about migration issues, it is important to keep these figures in mind and to remind ourselves that this is a challenge being faced by nearly every country in the world, not just our own.

Nevertheless, the rise in the number of global conflicts has resulted in an increase in the number of people coming to Ireland and Europe seeking safety. This situation has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which has forced the largest number of people to flee their homes in Europe since the Second World War. As a result, Ireland and many other countries have had to rapidly reassess the manner in which they receive people fleeing in search of safety. Previous planning figures have had to be revised for a new world, in which conflict and persecution are sadly becoming more commonplace. In large part, Ireland has been successful in doing so. Communities throughout the country have recognised the unique circumstances in which people have arrived in this country and have taken every opportunity to welcome them. By way of example, more than 820 projects in areas including sport, the arts and employment have been funded under the communities integration fund since 2017, as host communities and migrants look at ways to promote the integration of migrants and refugees.

Meanwhile, more than 108,000 people have been granted temporary protection in Ireland due to the Ukraine war, of whom some 43,000 are now living in State-supported accommodation. Some 31,000 people who applied for international protection are also being accommodated by the State, compared with 8,300 in January 2022. Accommodating this number of people in such a short time has presented challenges, of course. Despite intensive efforts to source emergency accommodation, the State is currently not in a position to provide accommodation to all international protection applicants due to the severe shortages that exist. As a result, there are currently 2,300 single male applicants who have not been offered accommodation by the State. In order to ensure the most vulnerable people are prioritised for accommodation, a vulnerability triage is in place to identify such people in this cohort.

In addition to this, there are intensive, ongoing efforts to accommodate people who have been identified as rough sleeping, as accommodation becomes available. Working with statutory agencies and homeless services, almost 200 people have been accommodated in the past two weeks through these referrals. Those not offered accommodation are now receiving an increased expense allowance of €113.80 a week. This reflects the €75 increase applied earlier this year, bringing Ireland in line with similar payments made to applicants in other EU member states. In tandem with the increased allowance, the State is also supporting a number of service providers in the Dublin area to provide support, including food and sanitary facilities, to people.

The Government is clear that there has to be a change in the State’s approach to accommodation for international protection applicants. The short-termism characterised by the over-reliance on commercial providers has to come to an end. We have to provide certainty and security to those in the international protection process and to the Irish public about international protection accommodation. That is why a new comprehensive accommodation strategy was approved by the Government in March of this year. The strategy will create long-term certainty over accommodation availability by creating mixed accommodation, with increased emphasis on a large, core, State-owned supply, while responding to the immediate challenges in relation to accommodation. Importantly, it will also involve a move away from full reliance on private providers towards a core of State-owned accommodation, delivering 14,000 State-owned beds by 2028 supplemented, as required, by high-standard commercial providers. In 2024 and 2025, it aims to convert commercial properties to international protection accommodation and acquire and utilise HSE and State lands to develop fast prefabricated and other modern methods of construction to quickly bring accommodation on stream. The strategy is one of a number of measures being taken by the State in the short term to address the immediate needs of international protection applicants.

The strategy is already delivering. In the three months since its launch, we have brought into immediate use several State-owned sites, with work ongoing to develop more. This has allowed us to offer accommodation to more than 1,000 people who had previously been unaccommodated. Over time, these sites will be developed to provide higher standard accommodation. Alongside this, we have also undertaken an expression of interest process and are working with commercial estate agents throughout the country to bring larger scale offices and commercial buildings into use. I am confident this will deliver further beds into the system later this year. All of this is being done to provide certainty and security within the system, as well as delivering long-term savings for the taxpayer.

It is likely that people will continue to arrive in this country seeking safety. Those figures may fluctuate over time due to a variety of reasons, and may be affected by changes in policy and service provision that take place in other nations.No matter what happens, we must be honest about the reasons people are coming here and be very clear in our humanitarian and legal duties to receive, support and review applications for protection in Ireland from people, who through no fault of their own, have been forced to seek safety abroad. We also need to stand in solidarity with the people seeking protection here to challenge the aggression that has been shown and the misinformation being promoted by those who are hampering and impeding the State's efforts to source and establish sufficient accommodation for people who need it. As a nation that over centuries saw so many Irish people emigrate to find safety or work, the Irish people understand what it means to migrate in search of shelter and stability. It is fair to say there is not one person in this Chamber who does not have a family member who went abroad seeking work, to build an opportunity, to build a life and to support his or her family back home. We know we have a history of this and understand it. That is why the Government is committed to supporting all those seeking refuge in Ireland and will continue to work to source, develop and support the services they require.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister. Senator Garvey has ten minutes.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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I thank the Minister for coming before the House to speak about this important topic.

The first thing I think about this s my memory of going to England and seeing the signs that read "No dogs, no blacks, no Irish". I do not know a single Irish person who did not find that deeply offensive and extremely racist. Unfortunately, because of the stuff on social media now, there are huge generalisations about migrants, which are actually as blatant and as wrong as that sign we had to put up with in the eighties and nineties in London. We should never forget that. As a nation, we have a long history of migration way back to the Famine. Then, in the eighties and nineties, we were the ones who went to America and we built London, and America, New York and Boston. Lest we forget, we have a huge history of migration. That is why we have been so welcoming to the migrants because overall, most people in this county have welcomed people with open arms. I remember going abroad to America and taking a job as a cleaning lady in a hospital. I was happy to do that job in America because the pay was good and I was looking for a better life and wanted to save money. I have a right to do that, as people have a right to come to countries across Europe looking for a better life. It is ironic sometimes because often the people who are the most racist and against migration are the biggest climate change deniers. At the end of the day, you see that most migration is caused through wars about fossil fuels and climate change because of drought and flooding. There is a real irony there in the minority of people who do not want migration and also have their heads in the sand when it comes to the over-dependence on fossil fuels and the change that climate change brings to people's lives. That is going to become more apparent as the years go. As climate change becomes more erratic and extreme, we will see huge increases in numbers. The very people who are climate change deniers and do not want to invest in sustainable energy and take it seriously are the same people who do not want migration.

Inward migration can be of huge benefit as well. We are at full employment in this country and every sector is crying out for more people to take on jobs such as in the building industry with all the tradesmen looking for more workers, and with apprenticeships and retrofitting. Of course, thanks to the Green Party there is huge demand for retrofitting and not half enough plumbers or electricians to make it happen. The hospitality industry cannot employ enough staff. We had an issue in County Clare last year where some buildings could only open four days a week because they did not have enough staff. Inward migration can bring big positives as well. I often meet migrants who are now busy working in my county and providing great services to people. I also refer to the healthcare industry. If we were to take all the migrants out of the healthcare industry, it would completely fall apart. It is not absolutely fabulous at the moment as it is. If all the migrants were taken out of the healthcare industry, where would we be left? We have a shortage of bus drivers in this country and need more. Let us be realistic here.

At the end of the day, there is a variety of people coming from all over the world. They are different ages and from different cultures or backgrounds. We cannot generalise but we see this every day on social media. It is scaremongering being spread by a few people but it gets people worried. I was told in one village that they were coming here to behead them, that all migrants are going to go around with Samurai swords and behead people. It is insane the stuff that people are starting to believe. We really have to check ourselves, check our scrolling through social media and check the feed to see what we believe in this day and age. Let us not forget that most average human beings, not just Irish people, are pretty normal, sane people who just want a better life and to be happy. Let us bear that in mind. The whole debate is skewed by lies, conspiracies and the violence of a handful of people. There always will be a few bad apples. We cannot say that everybody is perfect and I would not say that of the Irish either. Let us not expect complete perfection from everybody, bearing in mind that the average person comes here with no ill-will towards anybody. We should be proud of Ireland's response to these refugees. From the grassroots level up, thousands of people opened their homes and took in Ukrainians. I see welcome groups starting all over the country whenever international protection applicants come into a village or town as well. Unfortunately, in some circumstances we have seen discourse that they are all getting free houses, that they will never leave and all of this kind of stuff. Not a single migrant has got a free house. Yet people keep telling me they are getting free houses. We have to base our judgment of people on facts, as individuals.

We cannot deal with migration alone. That is why I welcome the EU pact because we cannot, this far west in Europe, expect that we will be able to manage everything on our own given the size of our country. We actually need to sign up to the EU pact and I know people are against that. I have looked into the whole thing and it would be madness for us not to be part of that. I welcome that we have now massively sped up processing times to enable people to work in this country, as opposed to waiting around for eight or nine years, and that those who have no right to seek asylum here will be processed much quicker as well. We are playing catch-up on how to deal with migration. I am not kidding myself here and things are far from perfect, but people, none more so than the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, have been working day and night since the beginning of the Ukrainian war to deal with these issues. Some might actually say that he is in fact the Minister who has been left dealing with migrants all by himself until very recently. We have many other Ministers who all have responsibilities with respect to these challenges. I commend the Minister today on trying to sort out all the problems for everybody pretty much in a silo from day one. I give credit for that because he is now getting all the blame when he has been working on it the hardest.

In Clare we have had thousands of migrants come to our county. They have come since the early 1990s. I remember starting a refugee support group in 1992 because people were coming off the planes at Shannon and getting stopped. We have had zero instances of rape, which I keep hearing about, domestic violence or break-ins. None of this is being done by migrants. It is our own people who are doing these things. It is easy to blame other people but we have to look at ourselves and take responsibility for what is happening in our country. Migrants have been coming into our county for 40 or 45 years and we have had no issues with them. The issues have been with the right-wing conspiracy theorists who are bringing good people along with them because they believe their lies. That is an important point I wanted to make today. We need to call a spade a spade. I remember there was a house that was rumoured to be housing migrants. It was never going to happen, it was just some video that was sent out. There was a big protest and a neighbour of mine, who is 75, was walking along the road he has walked for about 65 years and was asked to produce his identification by these right-wing people who were not from the area at all. He ended up in hospital. All of this was based on a rumour about a house that migrants were not coming to and because an old man dared to walk his road without identification. Let us pull back, slow down and take a breath.

. Of course it has been mad because thousands of people have come here. We had the Ukrainian war and we have huge numbers of IPAs. At the end of the day, most people are innately good. Let us not forget that, rather than buying into these vicious rumours that the right wing want to bring us all on board with. We have to be very careful about that, which was reflected in the way people voted in the local and European elections and in France recently, for the most part. Most people know that other people are okay and we have to do our best by these people. If they have come here for a better life, it is up to all of us to try to help them with that.

Michael McDowell (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister to the House today. At the heart of this, we do have to call a spade a spade, as Senator Garvey said. There is an essential difference between migration and seeking international protection. They are not the same thing. Just as there are nasty people on the right in Ireland who are stoking up false fears abouts migration, the general replacement of the Irish and the like on one hand, there are people who see themselves as on the left who deliberately confuse the concepts of migration with asylum-seeking and international protection-seeking and claim there is no essential difference between them.Senator Garvey here has said people have the right to come to Ireland to seek a better life. That is true up to a point, but it is untrue after that point. This State has a duty and a right and a moral obligation, especially in present circumstances, to have a coherent migration policy. That involves, for instance - the Minister has referred to it and so has Senator Garvey - looking to our own needs, looking to the construction industry and the fantastic work done by migrants in the health service. Such people are indispensable to our way of life at the moment and it is about recognising they are here lawfully and have come here lawfully and that the State has received them in accordance with a controlled policy.

I, as a former Minister for Justice, am fully aware of the difference between asylum-seeking on the one hand and migration policy, work permits and policies of that kind on the other. There is a fundamental distinction between migration and asylum-seeking. The 1951 convention on refugees and the protocol attached to it was never intended by the signatory parties at any point during the decades when it was originally put in place to be a mechanism for mass migration across the world. That is the plain, unvarnished truth. Since then a wholly different world has emerged where what was impossible in the 1950s for people who did not have means, which is to travel half way across the world and claim asylum in another country of their choice, is now possible. There are people for whom that is not easy, such as those coming across the Sahara, into north Africa, seeking to cross the Mediterranean and then filtering through France and the other EU countries, Italy, Greece and the like, and finally coming to places such as northern Europe. For those people, for whom that is a huge trek, it is not in many cases a question of fleeing persecution or war but simply what Senator Garvey said, namely, people seeking a better life.

There was a time, up to relatively recently, when the Georgian ambassador was almost a permanent fixture in this House. He impressed upon me the need for Ireland to have a fair system of migrancy so that Georgians who wanted to work in our construction industry, skilled people such as those Senator Garvey referred to - plumbers, bricklayers, plasterers and the like who could earn ten times in Ireland what they could if they were lucky to be employed in Georgia - could be facilitated since Ireland needed them and they wanted to come here. That is undoubtedly true. I put on record the health service simply could not function without migrants for even a day. I am not just talking about State-owned hospitals and the like. I am talking about carers, home carers and a whole load of different situations in which migration is absolutely essential to our way of life. We need to have a State policy which makes the distinction. There is migration for a better life, which is a perfectly reasonable aspiration for anyone anywhere in the world, be they Irish people fleeing famine in the 19th century or emigrants seeking employment from Ireland in the 20th and 21st centuries. The simple fact is that is one phenomenon that is not covered by the refugee conventions.

The second fact we must acknowledge is we are finding huge difficulty, which the Minister referred to in his remarks, accommodating people who under international law at the moment and EU law are entitled to reside here while their applications for international protection are examined. There are huge problems. The tent cities along the canal and all that bear witness to that. I totally support the Minister in one respect, namely, that the State should provide at least minimal decent accommodation for those kind of people. It is not an easy task to repurpose lands, buildings and the like to achieve that and there will be local opposition, most of which is based on considerations of fear and apprehension about the nature and future of their local communities if large numbers of people are accommodated in single centres in particular locations. I understand those fears, but I also understand the State must live up to its current international obligations. The Minister has spoken about the volume of international protection applicants being in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 per year in Ireland in the future, but the migration pact is a great illusion. We are not going to be in a position to turn them around in three months and send even a working majority of them home by deportation flights. I was a Minister. I tried to organise deportation flights. I know what is involved and know how difficult and how futile that kind of approach actually is.

We are also faced with the situation that the Minister’s colleague, the Minister for Justice, said she believes 80% of asylum applicants or international protection applicants in Ireland are coming here via the United Kingdom. We have to wise up and see why that is. Why are they coming here rather than remaining in the UK? Are they more likely to receive an understanding approach here than in the UK? Now that Keir Starmer and his party have been elected with such a huge majority in Westminster and are intent on achieving the entirely sensible goal of reversing the Rwanda policy, at least that, which is bound to be an obstacle to any deportation of any asylum seeker or international protection applicant in Ireland to the UK, will disappear. However, we must ask ourselves what it is about this island that 80% of the people coming here travelled through our neighbouring democracy. What is it about us that is bringing that situation about, especially when we cannot accommodate them? No matter what the Minister does he cannot provide non-tented facilities for these people.

We have to ask ourselves some fundamental questions. I will end on the most fundamental of those. The EU has, through its charter of fundamental rights and freedoms, pinned itself to the 1951 convention and to the proposition that remains a cornerstone of European law. The problem remains in Europe that we have to wise up to the fact those conventions are no longer fit for purpose in the world in which we live, a world of mass transit, of hugely sophisticated rights given to applicants in courts, massively legal openings for contesting decisions due to the massive delays and the like and the right of family reunification that has been extended so broadly. All these things suggest that in Europe they are not calling a spade a spade and that Ireland is, in consequence, failing to deal with a migration problem masked in large measure as an international protection-seeking problem.Unless Europe changes its fundamental policies, in my view we are going to fail to deal with what will be an increasingly socially divisive phenomenon.

Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is very welcome. I congratulate him on his election as leader of the Green Party and wish him the best of health and success.

We are speaking about migration. I agree with what Senator McDowell said about migration, which is very different from people seeking international protection and asylum. They are two very different things. However, when someone sees a person who is different from them on the street and feels hate, such people are bundled together. When the Government deals with such people, it must parcel them up together and that has caused a fudge on many of the issues.

It has been acknowledged by all across this House that Irish people are no strangers to emigration. There are thousands of people of Irish descent in every corner of the world. I am constantly reminded of the fact that in the summer of 1847, some 40,000 Irish people arrived in Toronto in a three-month period. The population of Toronto in May 1847 was 20,000, but they took us in. We were starving. We did not speak the language. We had diseases. Thankfully, many churches and religious organisations built hospitals and homes and took us in. Look at Toronto now. There is a very strong Irish connection because of those 40,000 people who flooded that small city.

We look at the reasons people want to come to Ireland. We could go down a bad path and say that it is easy to come here, and that we take the best care of them. In reality, it is because it is a very good country and we provide opportunities. We have tried our very best to make people welcome, but in some situations we have failed. Direct provision has been a complete failure and because of the current situation, we did not succeed in closing direct provision centres. That is because of the consequences of today's political and global reality.

We do need people in this country. It has been said many times that Ireland is at full employment. Many employers report skills shortages. Business owners say they cannot get people to work for them. We are crying out for people. We need people to support and grow our economy in the future. We must look at the reasons we have such pressures on our system and why so many people are coming here. It is because the world is in such turmoil at the moment. As an aside, we must work to secure peace, as conflict is displacing people. The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza are displacing people. We must work to stop that destruction. How many more lives are going to be lost before the parties involved in all the conflicts secure peace and take the security of their people seriously? The real tragedy is that peace will eventually be brokered but we need people to work more diligently to secure it rather than on destruction. I commend the Fianna Fáil leader and Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, on his work. He constantly explains Ireland's position, in particular on Gaza. As a leader, he is making sure that Ireland is on the right side of history.

We could look at many different circumstances where the State has great difficulties due to the influx of people. Migration will continue. We have a good and welcoming country, but we must make a concerted effort to ensure people are welcome. That is important for social cohesion. An underlying narrative sometimes boils over that crime and social unrest are due to migration and the person whom we do not know, who has a funny name and looks different from us. We must resist that. People who put out those lies heighten fears and continue to blame crime on immigration. It is as if we lived in some sort of utopia where we had no murder, rape or crime before the first foreigner came into the country. It is very easy to go down that rabbit hole on social media. There are differences, but let us be real: we must not let irrational fears take over. We must look at the human beings and see what they need and what they can offer and embrace the difference.

In order for there to be social cohesion and for people to continue to trust in it, we must trust in the system. That brings me to the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. Significant resources are required by the Department of Justice to recruit staff to it and the IPAS centre to reduce processing times. Senator McDowell spoke about the difficulty with deportation. We must look at how we can deal with the situation. If someone does not qualify for international protection, that person must leave the country. If people do not abide by our laws, they must leave the country. We cannot allow people to stay here if they do not abide by the law. As the Minister will be aware, the number of such people is very low, but it affects trust in the system. The normal Mary and Joe on the street say they want the Department of Justice to take this seriously. There are safe countries and when people are from them, we process the applications quickly and if they should be here, they are allowed to stay here.

We must create proper access and pathways to employment. We must look at a person's skills and ask what he or she can offer. Most of the time these people can offer so much to us. Speakers have referred to the people who work in the health service. When a family member was in Beaumont Hospital recently, we did not meet an Irish doctor or nurse. That is the reality. The only difference is that I had to speak a little bit slower and tone down my Louth accent for them to understand me. We need these people. We must welcome them. When we distrust those who seek asylum, in turn, we distrust those who are here working – the nurses and doctors – and those who are here for their families and for very good reasons. There are such people all over the country working as cleaners, bus drivers and taxi drivers. We risk there being distrust in them and that they will feel vulnerable.

The Minister referred to the new accommodation strategy. He worked on the situation concerning the D Hotel in County Louth. Transparency and value for money are important. We must be able to trust the system. He said the strategy is already delivering and several State-owned sites have been brought into immediate use. That is good, but in addition to trust in the system, we must ensure we get value for money and that we are not paying extortionate amounts to people. People in County Louth were very disappointed with what happened. They are sick of money being wasted. What happened in Drogheda was a mess. I refer to the procurement of the hotel where 500 beds were promised but only 250 were allowed. There was great disappointment with that, and learning that we were sold a pup. The Department must ensure the learnings are quickly taken on board. I hope more safeguards are put in place and the economic impacts are considered in future.Hopefully, we will not even have to consider too many private operations when we are going through our new accommodation strategy. I again reiterate that when we are accommodating our international protection applicants, we need transparency, value for money and for the community to be able to trust and know what is happening. When we do not know what is over the fence and when we do not know what is beyond the door, that is when we ask questions and that is when the stories are made up. Therefore, transparency, welcomeness and value for money are needed.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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First, I congratulate the Minister on his elevation to the leadership of the Green Party and I wish him well with that. We are here to make statements on migration. When I see it and read it, it gives me the chills because I have a fear of any further stoking of the hate and the activities that we have seen in our country in the last year and a half especially, which have just been appalling. They are reminiscent of scenes from television from the North in my childhood. It really is quite appalling that people are camping en masse outside facilities that have the most basic of circumstances to prevent people from coming to live there. Why do they need to go to live there? The vast majority are coming from war-torn countries and dreadful situations that fall off the news headlines very quickly. I marvel on a daily basis with sadness about how far down the newsfeed the war in Ukraine has gone. The strike on a hospital this week elevated its status again, as did the NATO meeting, but the fact is that on a daily basis, people in Ukraine are living with fear and in a situation in which their lives are in peril.

One of the things that is missing from much of the debate here is all we do to assist countries to mitigate the need for people to leave their homes. I have worked in Rwanda and India and I have seen on the ground the work that is funded by Irish Aid and the incredible interventions in communities, the support of women and indigenous businesses. We support much work to bring people to a place where they are sustainable and where they have little businesses. We do not speak about all that we do enough. By doing things like that, we show that we have a sense of responsibility as to where people are coming from. We act in the places where people are coming from. I appreciate that is a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs but it is important that we always emphasise the fact that there is conflict, war, climate change and drivers of poverty that make people want to move to Europe and Ireland.

We have an incredible success story. We have high levels of satisfaction, full employment, and huge vacancies, so we need more people to come and work here. I can therefore see why people want to come for economic reasons to our country. It is for that purpose that we have a tailor-made application process for work permits, and it is right that we emphasise that we oblige people to come through that process. We must ensure that if they are coming here to work and if they want to work, we can welcome them with open arms. In fact, our entire health system would grind to a halt if we did not have inward migration in that area. We therefore do have a proper process and we also have an asylum process. In that sense, Senator McDowell is right. We need to emphasise them both as being distinct and separate. For economic migrants, there is a facility to come lawfully to our country. It is from that perspective that, while I have some reservations about this two-tier strategy, at the same time, I agree that we need to assess people quickly. If they come from safe countries, there is a process by which their economic migration can be supported through work permits and applications of that type. Yet, when they come for asylum, they need to be supported and respected.

I have to say, I absolutely despise this attitude that single men are dangerous. I really do. I find it shocking and it happens all of the time. There is a categorisation of men as dangerous. In the last week or two, the headlines have been taken up by an Irish man who beat a woman unconscious and an Irish man who raped two women in a taxi. There is the latest appalling revelation of a man who raped a seven-year-old child on the occasion of her mother's funeral. An Irish man did that. I have worked for nearly two years in the criminal courts and the vast majority of people who were up on charges and who were convicted were Irish men and women. Very few of them - a tiny proportion - are those who have immigrated to our country. It is in the main the Irish people who keep the courts going. Therefore, this idea that we could classify somebody as dangerous because they are from a foreign country is a really appalling indictment of those who speak those words. It really is appalling. I find it really terrible.

When you speak to people who come here for asylum and who come here looking for assistance and support, they say they want to work and that they want to earn a living. They are anxious to get to some semblance of a normal life. If you have come from Gaza, Syria or places like that, the idea of getting into a normal life is really appealing. That is the desire of anyone I have spoken to. That is where they want to go. They do not want to be at the mercy of the State. I hear the Minister when he says that we have given the larger amount of €113 per week, but God help us, that does not go very far. That is really a quite meagre amount to try to live on and get some sort of decent standard.

This is an opportunity to praise some of the people we see throughout our communities. I am in many of these For All groups where I am daily heartened by the asks. They say they need somebody to come and give English lessons, they need a buggy, or that somebody is going for an interview and they need a suit, etc. The instant responses to these requests are a beautiful narrative of community in action and welcome in action but it does not hit the headlines. We will never read about it. We will see the horrific pictures of the thugs in Newtownmountkennedy and other places but we do not see the fantastic work that is done in all these For All groups. I refer to the welcome they give, the ongoing support, the summer camps that are being run at the moment for children and how they bring children out for day trips. We do not see half enough of that. That is the spirit of our country and is reflective of the vast majority of our population. That is the true reflection of our attitude to migration.

I appreciate the need to move the tents. At the time, we saw a multi-agency response and we need to see that sort of a multi-agency response on an ongoing basis. We need to see it from the perspective of the supply of services by making sure that doctors and services go to where groups are living and being accommodated. There are some issues I wish to raise. There is a family I know of who is in a refuge I have been working with. They received their refugee status recently but on the same day on which they got their refugee status, they got a notification that they could no longer live in the IPAS centre they were in. Therefore, there was some great news but then bad news was delivered. Regarding the movement of people, I can understand wanting to consolidate the provision of services to larger contracts with a smaller number, such as what has happened in Clare. Yet, throughout this, I have been disappointed in our emergency response.We have had children move, settle into a school, have a uniform and a community come around them, having come from conflict, and then suddenly be upped and moved after growing roots. I am not sure that we are doing that as well as we could. I appreciate that we are responding to something we cannot predict. While we cannot say how many are going to come, in line with the pact and the things the Minister has been saying, we can be and should be future planning. We cannot have a community the size of Ennis sitting idly by and waiting for people to come into our country. Some of the narrative of criticism is ridiculous and does not reflect the reality that we cannot predict how many people are going to arrive here tomorrow. Certainly, it may be that there are occasions when there are vacant premises that are there and ready to go to be reception centres.

I will finish by stating it is important to highlight everything that is good. It is very easy to highlight everything that is bad but we need to highlight everything that is good in the fantastic communities around our country.

Annie Hoey (Labour)
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I congratulate the Minister on his elevation to the leadership of the Green Party. I wish him the best of luck in everything he does with that in the next couple of months. While I welcome this discussion on migration, I echo Senator Seery Kearney's sentiments that it can, ultimately, make one very nervous. We can see how easy it is for snippets and conversations to become manipulated online and all sorts of things end up in all sorts of places. It is important, however, that we face into and have these conversations.

I reiterate what I have said many times before in this House, online and elsewhere, that migrants of all guises are welcome here in Ireland. We are an island that has traditionally extended the céad míle fáilte to all who come here, whether they are searching for a better life, looking for employment or fleeing war, famine or persecution. I have always held the belief that we should welcome fellow humans, it seems like such a technical term, to our shores and to try to see the humanity in others. It was great news to see that a record number of migrant candidates were elected to councils in last month's local elections. According to the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the number of candidates from an immigrant background rose from 56 in 2019 to more than 100 in the recent local elections. This is a great statistic to show how inclusive community and political life can be and we should strive to make the national Legislature more diverse and representative.

We cannot speak about the positives of how many people ran without also speaking about some of the unbelievably difficult experiences some of those candidates had. I can speak for my own party to say - I am sure this is the case across political parties - that some of the stories I heard included verbal vitriol, both online and in person, and language that I thought we had left behind long ago. It is important that all of us in political parties and none ensure that we provide that wraparound support for candidates and people who want to be involved in political life and that they go forward. If they were not successful in the election this time, as many people are not the first time, they should be supported to be able to do so again in the future.

We have seen Ireland transform for the better through migration and we have seen innovative ways of celebrating our migrant communities, such as the Africa Day celebrations in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, and the celebration of Eid al-Adha in Croke Park. We need only think of the song of the summer that has come out of Cork, namely, "The Spark" by Kabin Crew, which came from an unbelievable organisation on the northside of Cork that brings kids together. We can talk about the Trojan work that the Kabin Crew has done in working-class communities. It has brought working-class communities and the northside of the city together. On its Instagram page, there are clips from the likes of the Romani Crew and all the different communities it has brought together on the northside of Cork. Migrant youths who joined the Kabin Crew ten years ago as kids when it was first set up are now getting involved again and coaching the next generation of beatmakers. It is a magical example of bringing kids from a variety of backgrounds and cultures together in order to make music.

We need to talk about the Trojan work that is being done in many of our communities to challenge some of the rhetoric that has been going around. I must give a shoutout to the likes of Ireland for All and, in my own area in Dublin North-West, Finglas for All and Ballymun for All. I was part of the founding of both of those groups. They have done Trojan work in terms of welcoming migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to the area. The group is made up of activists and volunteers, some from political parties and others from none. It is a whole plethora of society that is united in welcoming refugees to our communities and in challenging misinformation and rhetoric around migrants. The Hope and Courage Collective use Ballymun for All as an example of how communities have worked to push back some of the misinformation. There were people out and about such as the Easy Street Team, who were talking to young kids about life. They talked about drug use and about who is welcome in our community and what kids are hearing. They were doing the most unbelievable work. They were challenging the idea that working-class communities are not welcoming places for migrants. Ballymun for All and Finglas for All have really pushed back on that and that is all because of community activists.

We need to do better. We constantly need to catch and challenge racism in this country. I often see the line "you do not get to be racist and Irish" but ultimately, the sad reality is that sometimes, racism is too common in Ireland. The vast majority of the time it is not but it would be remiss of me not to reflect on some of the statistics we have. A report from the Irish Network Against Racism from 2022 highlighted that 600 reports were received from the public about racism. This included 223 reports about criminal offences, excluding incitement of hatred. There were 190 reports about discrimination, 42 reports of other recordable racist incidents and a further 136 reports about racist hate speech. A report from last year entitled, Speak Out Against Racism, for the Irish Council for International Students, found that 63% of participants from its study reported that they had personally experienced or witnessed racism in Ireland. Verbal abuse was found to be the most common form of racism experienced by participants in the research. A quarter of all racist incidents occurred on the streets. Racism was also widely reported in social settings including pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, in the workplace and on public transport. While we have a situation where the vast majority of Irish people and all the groups like Ballymun for All, Finglas for All and Ireland for All are welcoming people and working night and day to make our communities great places for all of us to live in, there are people who consistently go out there and engage, whether it is on public transport, restaurants or nightclubs. I have heard awful stories from friends who are just trying to have nights out. Ultimately, those people still exist in society and we have to figure out what we are going to do about that.

I will talk briefly about the shortage of accommodation we have across society. I have said it before and I will say it again, I struggle to understand how we continue to have people saying that we are full in all sorts of language, when we have 160,000 vacant homes. I was never good at maths but even for me, the maths are not particularly mapping on this one. I want to ask the Minister for an update on the Baggot Street building. My colleague, Deputy Kelly, was out there today. He noted the state of disrepair into which the former hospital, a State-owned building, had fallen. Does the Minister or his Department have any intention of bringing this disused State-owned building back into use for emergency accommodation or for the many other suggestions as to what this building could be used?

One way in which we could challenge racism and xenophobia, but particularly racism and other forms of incitement of hatred or hate crimes, is by passing the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. This legislation has passed through the Dáil and though Second Stage in the Seanad but it has been a year since it was last debated in this Chamber. I asked the Leader of this House yesterday for an update on its status and she said that no Department officials had come to her requesting that she schedule further debate or further Stages of that legislation. I acknowledge that the Minister called for this legislation recently. It was part of his campaign to be leader of the Green Party. Is there a commitment from the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, to prioritise this legislation and on whether it will be passed in this House before the next general election? We are rapidly hurtling towards the general election that is looming over all of us.

I will end by reading the statement that was put up in Ballymun and was repurposed, for want of a better word, by many of the For All groups around the country.It relates to the abuse directed at refugees in particular. A number of us were signatories, as were community leaders, regular Joes, groups and organisations. It reads:

We stand in solidarity with the vast majority of the people of Ballymun in opposing the abuse and hatred directed at refugees and asylum seekers in Ballymun over the last few days. Men, women and children, be they residents or newcomers, should not fear for their safety in their homes or on our streets.

We know that only a small minority of people from the area are taking part, and the abuse is orchestrated by far-right groups. The people of Ballymun are generally upset with the ‘protests’, and they fear that the reputation of this welcoming and diverse community is being tarnished.

There are many things we need to fix in our area and in our country, such as housing and homelessness, poverty, social equality, drug treatment services, employment, health services, our environment and community facilities. We do not believe that these issues should be used by some groups to stoke up fear and hate.

As organisations and as individuals we are working and we will continue to work collectively to make our area better, bringing out the best in people and fighting for positive change.

It was important to read that into the record.

With a general election looming, we have to be wise to racist, anti-refugee, anti-asylum seeker and anti-migrant agitators who are looking to exploit these communities for their own gain by stirring hate and division. We cannot believe that these agitators are going to stop. The Minister and I both know that they are unfortunately not going to stop at just migrants. Women, LGBT people, the climate, workers' rights and many other things are also in the firing line. It is something we need to be aware of. The people who seek to sow division are not the community activists I work with every single day. Migrants and regular people are working to build something and to make Ireland their home and a safe place for all of us to live in. All of those groups are inevitably heavily involved with the migrants in our communities who are working very hard to make Ireland a better place for all.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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The Minister is just about to leave but I wanted to congratulate him on becoming leader of his party. I am not sure how long his tenure will be but I wish him well.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I will sit in for a while.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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Figures released by the Minister's Department on 11 June showed that, at the end of April this year, 5,644 who had been granted a status such as refugee status or subsidiary protection status or who had been given leave to remain still remained in IPAS accommodation. When these people are granted their status, they are permitted to avail of rent allowance or the housing assistance payment in a similar way to the 60,000 Irish people currently on the social housing list. However, these 5,644 remain in the IPAS accommodation system getting free accommodation, free meals, a free medical card, free energy and so on at the taxpayer's expense. Of course, this is causing a clog in the system and keeping beds from incoming refugees, forcing thousands to stay in tents in cities across this country. This mismanagement is a serious source and cause of public anger and lack of faith in this Government. Tent cities, homeless encampments and other dangerous community conditions result in dangerous social conditions for families, residents and asylum seekers alike.

I know of many providers that have been contracted by the Minister's Department to provide accommodation to Ukrainian refugees over the last two years and which notified the Department when vacancies became available. However, the Department has failed to put any replacement persons into these accommodations. The taxpayer is paying for empty rooms and this is happening on the Minister's watch. This has been going on for over a year. I understand that the Department only recently started to carry out inspections.

Today, I must address this Government's dangerous proposal to convert Thornton Hall into a tent city for the overcrowded asylum system, a proposal the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is aware of. Along with other Oireachtas Members from the east Meath and north Dublin areas, I was briefed on the proposal by the civic engagement group of the Department of integration. We were shocked to learn that the tender for IPAS accommodation at Thornton Hall had been awarded. The contracts were signed although absolutely no amenities required for humane living conditions were available on the site. Are we paying the contractors and from what date? Ms Eibhlin Byrne, head of the civic engagement team, clarified that those due to be housed at this site are single men only. Men will be housed in shared tents on five acres of the 30-acre facility. In my estimation, we could reach a figure of 1,000 occupants on that portion of land.

The number who will reside here remains unspecified. In the meeting, we were told that there were just over 30,000 people in the IPAS system and that Thornton Hall is one of six State-owned sites currently being assessed for emergency and tented accommodation of this type. Where are these sites? The public have a right to know. The site at Thornton Hall is not fit for habitation. The proposed accommodation is unresourced and the conditions are inhumane. There are no on-site toilet or temporary shower facilities. No regular transportation to and from the site is agreed in the contract. Time and again, the polls show that migration is one of the biggest issues the public cares about. Yet again, public consultation has been non-existent. This is another disaster for the community engagement team and the Department of integration. This is not how you do business.

We simply cannot continue to take these numbers in. We have taken in 680 in the last ten days. We are heading for 30,000 this year. The solidarity figure under the new EU migration pact is not built into that number. Part of the plan is to allocate new turn-key properties. How does the Minister think this plan can gain the support of the 60,000 people currently on the social housing list? I listened to Senator Seery Kearney. I have often wondered about how we spend our foreign direct aid. Should we be looking at ways in which we and the EU can build up economic teams in the countries that people are coming from? There has to be a way to ensure sustainable economic development in these countries, which have poorer infrastructure than we do at this moment in time. The EU is supporting a brain drain from these countries rather than trying to help them develop economically, which is what we really should be doing so that people will not flee those countries. The brainiest people, who are coming here from these countries, need to stay in their own countries to develop their own nations.

It is a mess and it is not getting any better. We are not getting any control over the situation. It is all very well to talk about all the lovely things that are happening but that is just the fluff around the chaos that exists at this moment in time.

Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister to the House and wish the Minister who was previously here, Deputy O'Gorman, well in his leadership of the Green Party. I compliment and congratulate him for the work he has done over recent years in a really difficult brief. When he became Minister for children, he would not have expected the kinds of challenges he has faced to be foisted upon him. I am sure he has come under enormous stress and strain as a result of the vile and despicable approach that has been taken to his work by those who seek to undermine what he does and what he has to do on social media and, on occasion, in this House and the other House.

I was taken with what Deputy Michael Healy-Rae said in the other House yesterday. I compliment him for the way in which he challenged those outrageous people who seek to use social media platforms to undermine the work of politicians. We are all thick-skinned to a point but things can reach a certain level. The Minister knows full well what that is about. The other Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has been subjected to it. While Deputy Healy-Rae said he would not stand for it and encouraged every other politician not to stand for it either, I would ask Members of this House and the other House not to stand for it when they hear lies and mistruths perpetrated in these Houses. There are regular outbursts from Members elected to this House and the other House that are jumped upon by those outside who use social media to target Government Ministers. If we are to be true to what we believe in, there is a responsibility on all of us. I know Deputy Healy-Rae will hold others to account when he hears them utter absolute nonsense along the lines that we are being invaded or along the lines of the great reset theory. During that encounter yesterday, he sat beside Deputy Mattie McGrath.Deputy McGrath regularly talks about the great reset theory, as if this Government, including the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has somehow written leaflets in six or seven languages inviting migrants to this country. It is jumped upon by others if uttered in these Houses. It is used to troll, attack and undermine the work of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the rest of the Government.

There is an old story that some of the lads on the Independent benches will understand full well: what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. We need to see a little reality brought to bear here, people standing up for honesty and decency and fundamentally protecting the democratic institutions this country needs and deserves. It would suit others to undermine our democratic institutions by using migration as a weapon.

Senator McDowell was right to identify that there is a difference between migrants and those seeking international protection. There is no point in binding the two together, but there is a real challenge associated with those seeking international protection. I do not want to hear one more person from the elected set saying, "You are bringing them in", or, "You are inviting them in." They get here by whatever means they can. The previous speaker rightly identified the housing challenges that exist, but these are challenges the Government has to try to deal with. It is not as if the Government is sending planes to some other country to bring the people here. They get here by whatever means they can and we have responsibilities to try to meet their needs while their applications are being processed. Yes, we can process their applications more quickly, and I am sure we will. The Minister for Justice will tell us the work she has been doing in this regard.

Notwithstanding that, there are migration flows and people seeking international protection. For sure, some seeking international protection may not be fleeing war, torture or inhumane conditions. They are trying to make a better life for themselves. They will be processed and refused in due course. It is a challenge while that is happening, including across Europe, much of it as a result of the war of aggression by Putin. It helps him to undermine the democratic institutions that have been built up in the European Union because he is putting democratically elected governments under pressure, which plays into his hands. In a small way, there is a small group of people who could not care less and they will run with it to try to pick away at the foundations of this State. That, in my view, is close to treason because it fails to recognise what Putin is doing to get back to an autocratic way of doing business. We now see it happening in Hungary and, to some extent, in the Czech Republic, and we see the rise of the far right in France and so many other areas. We have a responsibility to stand up for honesty and decency while at the same time trying to address the public's concern. There are people who are genuinely concerned about the increase in migration and we have to show resilience in that regard. We are doing so. In this regard, some of the changes to the Social Welfare Act, particularly insofar as it applies to Ukrainians, are helpful.

I was one of the first people to call for a debate on migration in this House. I wanted to use the opportunity to undermine some of the untruths and mistruths. I was challenged on the day by Senator Boylan, who is moving on to be an MEP, when I said that many politicians do not seek to raise the migration issue at all because they do not want to rock the boat. I was one of those for many years. Around election time, you just ignored those talking about migration. In fairness to Senator Boylan, she corrected me and said Sinn Féin had no problem discussing migration. Its position changed very quickly on it and it refused to support the migration and immigration pact, which, while it is not ideal or a panacea or silver bullet to solve everything, is a really good attempt by the members of the European Union to handle this in a way that works for everybody. There will still be issues and problems to be addressed domestically in member states on an ongoing basis, but trying to do it on our own is going nowhere. Britain saw this. One of the principal reasons for its exiting of the European Union was that it thought it would take back control. We saw the slogans implying it would have all this extra money to do the devil and all and take back control.

We regularly hear the charge that we have somehow lost our sovereignty, even though we have pooled and shared it, benefiting so much as a consequence. The British got their sovereignty back in this matter and came up with a policy on Rwanda. We saw how hopeless that policy was and how it was actually rejected by the British people when they came to realise that while they may be able to banish other human beings to Rwanda and elsewhere, their economy will falter if they do not remain part of the European club. They have a lot of soul-searching to do. I wish the new British Government well in that regard.

I compliment the Minister for Justice, who has done so much work on the migration pact. It has not been easy and I am sure she has been targeted in many ways, with little support from those who would seek to take a different policy position. It is a question of seeking to eliminate the untruths and mistruths that feed into the disinformation and misinformation that are circulated very aggressively on social media and that become part of the chants of those outside these Houses.

We should have a regular rolling debate in this House to update people and help to undermine the mistruths that exist, including notions about the consequences of 500 or 1,000 single men arriving in an area. While that language might be correct, it is a dog whistle to the notion that the individuals are invaders. Phrases such as "military age" and "fighting age" are often tagged on and it is said the men are here to overthrow Irish culture, the Irish people, etc. In some instances, they are running from war and persecution and some of them are here to make a better life. I encounter people who challenge me with the question, "Where are the women and children?" Not too many women and children made it to the United States either when Irish people travelled. The men went first because they had the best chance of surviving the boat journey. They sent money home and brought the women afterwards. Senator McDowell talked about the pathway across the desert and to travelling in a small boat that may not reach a shore. Quite simply, that is generally not a great way in which to bring a wife and children with you. If the fit men come first, there is a reason for it. They have a chance of surviving.

I do not recall the exact date some years ago when we saw a picture in the news of a child dead on the beach. It turned the hearts of so many to see that image because we could all understand it, yet that is now lost in the debate because we have seen such an increase in numbers. We have seen spikes and troughs before in the number seeking international protection and we have managed to find a way through it without the far right taking over the running of any of the countries in Europe.

I hope that when things settle in Ukraine, as they undoubtedly will, all countries will be better able to manage those seeking international protection and those seeking a better way of life. We need to consider this from several standpoints. We need a better migration process whereby those with skill sets, or maybe those who do not but who have the capacity to learn and be trained to meet the needs of our growing economy, can be accommodated.

I wish the Minister well in her efforts. I ask her to liaise with the Leader so that every quarter while this is a hot topic, we can have a discussion in the House to bring us up to date, challenge the untruths and mistruths and state the real truth.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to discuss this issue today. I agree with the previous speaker, Senator Dooley, that we should not shy away from it. We should regularly engage and talk about the facts, what we are doing and what we need to do collectively, not just in the Department of Justice or integration services but also across all of society, to ensure we have an immigration system that functions. It would also allow us to talk about the challenges that exist. There is a challenge; there is no point in saying otherwise. The Taoiseach said at his last meeting at the European Council that, irrespective of the type of government, leader or country, or of a country's geography, migration is one of the biggest challenges we all face. It is simply because there are millions of people on the move globally, more than we have seen since the Second World War.People are on the move for so many different reasons: fleeing war, persecution or their country because it is not a safe space. It is also because of climate change and its implications for where they live, their ability to work and to protect their families and live the lives we all want to live. We always have to be mindful of the fact the world is a challenging place at the moment, there are millions of people on the move and we have to be able to respond and to do so in a way that is honest and truthful. I appreciate those who call out mistruths and seek to rectify some of the disinformation put out there. Much of it is on social media, unfortunately, by those who are faceless and nameless and not even from this country and others, unfortunately, who are closer to home as well. There have been a lot of efforts to cause division in our society recently but it is always important for us to highlight the fact Ireland continues to welcome people who come here to seek work, a better life, but also to seek protection.

In recent weeks, my Department has welcomed 10,000 new Irish citizens at ceremonies held in Dublin and Kerry and it really is a marvellous day to see so many people from all over the world celebrate the privilege that it is to become an Irish citizen. As we know, inward migration is hugely beneficial to our economy, country and culture. One of the things I spoke about at the last ceremonies was the fact that the harp, which is the symbol of Ireland on our passport and all of our documents, came first from ancient Egypt and civilisations 5,000 years ago. Even our own traditions and cultures come from others. It is really important that we acknowledge and recognise that.

Migrants bring diverse skills, expertise and complement our workforce and society and we are doing what we can to facilitate as many legal pathways as those who need to come here to fill the critical roles and shortages we have. We have full employment and cannot fill the jobs we have vacant at the moment so that work will continue. We acknowledge Ireland is under pressure when it comes to our international protection system. Nobody shies away from that fact. As I mentioned, we are not alone in this regard. Many of our European counterparts have experienced significant increases in the number of people seeking international protection in recent years and there is little indication that will abate or slow down; in fact, it will most likely continue to increase. This shared European challenge requires a shared European solution and the solution has been put forward and that is the EU migration pact. As Senator Dooley stated, it is not a panacea and it will not resolve all of our issues but it is work that has taken place for the past number of years to identify how we can best collectively work together to put structures in place to ensure people who genuinely need protection get it, and quickly, and that those who do not are returned to their countries.

Separate to that, we continue to work to put in place whatever supports or resources, financial or otherwise, in the countries these people are coming from, deal with the root causes of migration, support their economies and address many of the challenges. That is a much bigger issue to try to deal with but it is happening in parallel with the adoption and introduction of the EU migration pact. Preparations for the implementation of the pact have begun across government. A new Bill to repeal the International Protection Act 2015 will be drafted. That will be done in parallel with the complete re-engineering of our entire system from start to finish. It will be underpinned with human rights at the very centre of anything we do so anybody who suggests that this is about fortress Europe, keeping people out and stopping people from having rights should know that human rights are at the very centre of everything that has been done related to the pact. It will ensure we have greater processing and why that is important is, as I always try to explain, the quicker we can process an application, people can get a quicker positive decision if that is what they are entitled to, but if they are not genuinely not entitled to it and should be coming through another route and there is no reason they should be here seeking protection, they should get that decision much more quickly. It means the less time the person is here, the less rights he or she accrues and it is easier to remove a person. While that might sound harsh, it is really important we have these rules, that they are adhered to and that we have as many legal pathways for people to come from countries where they genuinely should not be seeking international protection.

There will be a greater focus on returning unsuccessful applicants and doing so in a way we can support them to return. Nobody wants a deportation order against them that follows him or her for the rest of his or her life. However, if we can make it clear to the person at the earliest stage possible he or she can return home and we have an opportunity to create greater pathways for them we can do that as well.

There will be an expansion of the Eurodac database to make sure we have a greater understanding of who is coming into the country. If we have somebody who is a risk - again I stress that this suggestion that every man who is coming in is coming for reasons other than to have a better life and come ahead of his family and create a life for them we have to push back on that - we have to acknowledge that some people come and they have a background, the same as anybody in this country, and we want to be sure and certain we have as much information about those who are coming into the country as well. This does not mean we are waiting for the pact to take effect before we start to implement a lot of the changes. I will continue to take all necessary steps to manage the process efficiently and effectively while ensuring the integrity of these processes is maintained at all times. Maintaining the integrity of the system is about ensuring we have one that genuinely works for those who need our protection and for those who do not that they are enabled to return to their countries as quickly as possible.

Global migration is complex and many understandably seek to enter Ireland to improve their lives but we have to set down rules. My goal is to ensure applications are processed quickly. It means those who do not qualify are returned and those who qualify get that quickly. I am ramping up investment at every level of the system. The International Protection Office has significantly extended its processing capacity. I have doubled the number of staff there and doubled its budget as well, and have invested in the process of reform and digitalisation, which will allow us to do things even more quickly. This investment has led to the number of decisions issued increasing threefold and are set to increase further this year. We are setting ourselves higher targets for next year. I introduced an accelerated decision-making process in November 2022. This applies to those coming from safe countries where they are receiving their first instance decision in less than 90 days, which is a significant reduction on recent years. We are investing also in the International Protection Appeals Tribunal to make sure the second stage and those appeals can be processed as quickly as possible. Those times are starting to gradually come down as well.

The addition last week of Brazil, Egypt, India, Malawi and Morocco to the safe country list has brought the total number of safe countries to 15. While people form safe countries are still entitled to apply for international protection and have their application considered thoroughly, they have to submit grounds that the country is not safe in terms of their own personal circumstances. They have to prove why they should be granted international protection. These measures are proving effective. The number of applications from safe countries has reduced by more than 50%. The number of applications from Algeria and Botswana, in particular, have reduced by 71%. I have also extended this to the country where the highest number of applicants is coming from at the moment, that is, Nigeria. That may change and we have to make sure our systems are flexible. Since that was introduced the number of applications from Nigeria have almost halved since it was added to the accelerated process. I will keep this under review and make sure that as potential migratory flows or challenges change that we are responsive and able to adapt in appropriate timeframes.

I have increased the penalties for carriers who are not conducting appropriate checks and that legislation will be enacted by next week and is concluding in the Seanad through the miscellaneous Bill. The board of management unit of the Department, working with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, are also carrying out doorstep operations at the foots of planes and any of us who have been travelling or on flights in recent times will have seen that. More than 3,700 doorstep operations have taken place this year. I have introduced visa controls on a number of additional countries, most recently South Africa and Botswana, looking at countries that should be safe but where we are unfortunately see an increase in people coming from those countries and seeking international protection. We have to make sure we have clear rules in place and that they are not abused in any way.

Deportation orders are up by 76% this year compared to this time last year. Enforced deportations are up 132% but, importantly, voluntary returns are up 145%. It is much easier, more efficient, cost-effective and time-effective but it is also better for the individuals themselves if they are allowed to return voluntarily and if they are given that support to return as opposed to having a deportation order against them, which follows them not just if they try to come back here but any part of the EU and beyond.

A procurement process to provide a charter flight service to support the removal process is well advanced. This is just one element. This will not be a panacea either. This is just making sure we have all of the tools available to us to make sure that if a person does not have a right to be here, we are able to return him or her to their country. We are freeing up gardaí who are working on immigration registration duties so they can be on the front line working on immigration enforcement activities and that work is continuing. We have a number of counties, starting with Kildare, Wexford, Meath, Cork and Limerick where those duties have been handed over and that further work will progress before the end of the year. Of course, it is difficult to talk about this issue without focusing on our colleagues in the UK. The common travel area, CTA, is a really important mechanism for us to be able to live, work, study and continue that close relationship we have with our colleagues in the UK. We need to ensure that benefit we have between the two islands is not in any way abused so there is really close co-operation between my Department, the UK Home Office, An Garda Síochána and the PSNI to make sure we protect the common travel area from abuses that may be ongoing.As we have seen in recent times, there is a higher number of people now flowing both ways between Ireland and the UK. We therefore have to be able to speak to each other and understand why those flows have changed, what are the issues we are trying to address and how we can address them together. I hope to meet my new counterparts, following the recent election, in the coming weeks so that we can build a relationship and make sure it is as strong as possible.

My role is to make sure we have an immigration system that functions, works, is efficient and effective and that we have the resources in place to deal with what is now a significant challenge, not only for us but for many countries across the EU. That work is well under way. Funding has been invested and people are being invested. At the heart of it, the overall objective, as we will all agree, is to make sure that people who genuinely need our protection get it as quickly as possible and that we give it to them in a way that allows them to get on with their lives and be active and contributing members of society and that for those who do not have a right to be here we are firm, make it clear to them and assist them to leave or ensure they remove themselves from the country. Who knows? Perhaps they will be able to return through legal pathways at another time if they wish.

I thank colleagues for putting this on the agenda. As I said, I am happy to come back to the House, as are all my colleagues, to make sure we continue to focus on this and that we speak the truth about what is a difficult topic for many people.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister.

I welcome Deputy Brendan Griffin and his guests who have joined us, Gráinne Galvin and her son Pearse, who are from Killarney via Dublin. They are welcome to Seanad Éireann. I thank the Deputy for bringing them.