Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State has ten minutes, all groups' spokespersons have eight minutes and all other Senators have four minutes. Before we move on to this, I want to mention Tawana Bolbolan who is from the US and is interning with Senator Nicole Ryan. She is very welcome and I hope she enjoys her experience here today.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to address and talk about migration. We have seen the discourse on migration has become increasingly fraught right across the world, not just in Ireland, but here in Ireland we have not been immune to the impact of this polarising debate. We have seen anti-immigrant protests on our streets, stirred up by social media. We have seen the dark consequences of the anti-immigrant rhetoric in the shocking racist attacks on our minority communities. In particular, I want to express my deep concern and unequivocal condemnation of the recent attacks on Indian nationals here. These acts of violence and intimidation are utterly unacceptable and stand in direct opposition to the values we hold as a nation, which are respect, inclusion and dignity.

I was happy to have an opportunity to engage with representatives of the Indian community in the wake of these attacks. The community has made, and continues to make, a vital contribution to Irish society in our health services, our universities, our businesses and right across our culture. They are our colleagues, our neighbours and our friends. Let me be clear: there is no place for racism or xenophobia in Ireland. The Government is working closely with An Garda Síochána to ensure those responsible are brought to justice, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect every member of our diverse and vibrant society.

We stand with the Indian community. We value them and we are committed to ensuring their safety and inclusion in Irish life. The Government is determined to combat racist crime and protect all vulnerable communities. Attacks on migrant communities, whether those attacks are physical, verbal or particularly online, are utterly unacceptable. Everyone has the right to live safely, free from intimidation and abuse, regardless of their background. The vast majority of Irish people are positive towards migration because we know as a country the value of migration to Ireland. Migration benefits our economy, our public services and our infrastructure. It has made Ireland a pluralist and open society.

Approximately 20% of our neighbours, friends and coworkers were born outside the island of Ireland. In 2023, more than 23% of all nurses and midwives directly employed by the HSE were migrants and 15% of those were from India. That year, nearly four in ten doctors registered to the Irish Medical Council were trained outside Ireland. Our construction industry heavily relies on our current ongoing migration. In 2023, there were 27,500 migrant workers in the construction industry, an increase of 84% since 2021, amounting to 12,600 workers.These are the people who are helping to build our homes, Garda stations, prisons, schools and hospitals, which we need. They are doing the things we need the construction industry to do and it is vitally important that we have the skilled workers to help to do that.

Across all sectors, be it technology, agriculture, hospitality and business, migrants help our country to grow, succeed and provide quality public services. My Department is currently working on a national migration and integration strategy that will set out how this Government intends to meet the opportunities and demands facing our society and economy over the next decade, and this will be published next year. This is the first time such a strategy has been undertaken and I am determined that our approach to migration is rules-based, planned and coherent.

While we understand the immense value of migration to us as a small nation, we cannot ignore the challenges it presents. The parallel events of increased international protection applicants following Covid and the horrendous war in Ukraine, which has displaced millions of Ukrainians across Europe, has placed pressure on accommodation capacity over the past three years, which has been felt right across our country. Among the wider changes in migration patterns into Ireland, those particular events have contributed to a public discourse and attitudes that have had a real impact on local communities throughout Ireland.

This phase in migration is new. We understand the Irish public are experiencing that change and genuinely have legitimate concerns. They want to be reassured that the immigration system in this country is managed correctly and its rules enforced. Ensuring that we have a firm, fair and effective immigration system that is rules-based is a key focus for me and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan.

Most people coming into Ireland are here to work, study or join their families. To do this, they have gone through our immigration system and have shown they met the criteria. They have followed the rules. I have said since I became Minister that I want an immigration system that is firm, fair and effective, and the reality is that a system has to have a removals process for people who have been refused permission to remain. It is important to ensure that the public has confidence in the application of our law in this area. Put simply, if people are in this country who have not followed the rules and do not have permission to be here, they must leave. If they do not leave voluntarily, they will be deported. We are talking about a relatively small number of people, but we must hold firm on this particular principle. Every system has rules and everyone has to play by those rules. That is as it should be.

This principle will also apply when it comes to the international protection system in general. We need to make sure that it is there for people who need it, that is, people fleeing war and persecution. To do that, we have focused on scaling up the decision-making process and ensuring faster decisions, which is central to a functioning immigration system. It allows those who need our protection the ability to get on with their lives rather than waiting in limbo. It also means that those who are not entitled to be here leave the country sooner. Last, it sends a clear message that applying for international protection is not a backdoor into our country.

This strategy is working. From the beginning of this Government, applications for asylum have reduced by 40%. I also recognise that asylum is a transnational issue and Ireland cannot deal with it alone. With our fellow member states, Ireland will implement the EU migration and asylum pact next year. This major piece of reform to asylum systems across Europe means that we are collectively strengthening our systems and protecting our borders.

People currently going through the application process and living in IPAS accommodation represent just 3% to 4% of non-Irish citizens who are living in the State, and it is important to remember that fact. I know, and fully recognise, that accommodation for those in the international protection system is an area that has caused concern to communities. The focus of the Government is on developing more State-owned accommodation from a range of sources, building a very sustainable system and reducing our reliance on commercial providers.

For those in the system, I and my officials are developing a contribution model to ask people in accommodation who are going through the system to make a payment. People who have applied for international protection can currently apply for permission to work after five months and, if granted, they can work after six months. While not all applicants are working, many are and it makes sense for people earning an income and paying taxes to also make a contribution to their accommodation costs.I will be bringing forward proposals for this contribution model in the coming months.

I also acknowledge my Department's community engagement team, which was established in late 2023 to engage directly with elected representatives, local authorities, NGOs, community forums, local services, An Garda Síochána and others in advance of the opening of accommodation centres. The purpose of the team is to communicate and inform through sharing accurate and timely information on new and existing accommodation centres based in the community. This is a much-needed development, on which I acknowledge we have not done as well as we should have in the past.

Conscious that I am reaching the end of my time, I will finish by emphasising how important migration is to the development of our country. I believe there have been efforts to cause division in our society and it is important to reaffirm that Ireland continues to welcome people who want to come to our country to work and to contribute positively to society. We not only want them here but need them here. It is against this background that it is more important than ever the public have confidence in how our migration system operates. I have put in place a series of measures along with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to ensure we have a firm, fair and effective immigration system, one that is robust, enforced and ensures our borders are protected. This will remain a key priority for me as the Minister of State with special responsibility for migration. I thank the House.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. Before I call the next speaker, on my own behalf I welcome Mr. Martin Hughes, our new Clerk of the Seanad. I am sure some of the Members may not have met him yet but we look forward to working with him. I congratulate him on his new role and look forward to working with him into the future.

Garret Kelleher (Fine Gael)
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Cuirim fáilte an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Brophy, agus gabhaim buíochas leis as ucht teacht isteach chuig an Seanad inniu. Mar is eol dúinn tagann sé isteach chugainn go rialta chun ábhair éagsúla a phlé agus is fíor-thábhachtach é an t-ábhar atá os ár gcomhair inniu, ábhar a bhfuil an tAire Stáit freagrach as.

Chomh maith leis sin, cuirim fáilte roimh Martin. Tá súil agam go n-éireoidh go geal leis ina phost nua.

Chomh maith le an-chuid daoine eile anseo agus ar fud na tíre, chaith mé féin cúpla tréimhse thar lear ag obair agus ag taisteal i dtíortha éagsúla, cuid acu i bhfad ó bhaile. Ar an iomlán, d'éirigh go maith liom. Réitigh mé go maith leis na daoine lenar bhuail mé leo agus bhí eispéireas dearfach agam agus mé ar thóir obair, ag imirt spóirt, ag dul amach le mo chairde agus ag déanamh na gnáthrudaí a dhéanann daoine óga. Pé áit a ndeachaidh mé ar fud an domhain, bhraitheas compordach agus slán agus bhraitheas an t-am ar fad go raibh fáilte romham. Tá a fhios agam nach raibh sé sin fíor i gcónaí d'Éireannaigh a chuaigh ar imirce blianta ó shin, daoine a bhí ag iarraidh maireachtáil thar lear, ar thóir obair agus ag lorg saol níos fearr dóibh féin agus dá dteaghlaigh. Go minic ní raibh an dara rogha acu ach dul ar imirce, mar gheall ar riachtanas de bharr An Gorta Mór sa naoú haois déag, mar thoradh ar easpa fostaíochta i sean tír ár sinsir fásta i rith an fichiú haois, agus arís tar éis an caolú eacnamaíochta a bhí againn níos mó ná cúig bliana déag ó shin. I gcomparáid leo siúd, tá an t-ádh linn go bhfuil an-chuid dul chun cinn déanta againn mar thír ó thaobh cúrsaí eacnamaíochta, sóisialta agus fostaíochta, agus go bhfuil sé de phribhléid ag ár nglúin féin nach bhfuil an riachtanas céanna ann dul ar imirce dá bharr easpa deiseanna sa bhaile. Tá a fhios againn go léir go bhfuil breis oibre fós le déanamh ach go háirithe leis an dtithíocht agus cabhair a thabhairt do dhaoine óga atá ag iarraidh saol níos fearr a chruthú sa bhaile.

In short, while Irish people have had to emigrate out of existential and economic necessity in our droves in previous generations, for a variety of reasons we were generally, though not always, well received in countries where we sought to build new lives for ourselves and our families. Since 1951, the right to claim asylum has been an important part of international law and Ireland has played its part in welcoming and giving asylum to many who have fled war and persecution in their home countries to seek protection. As the Minister of State outlined very well in his opening statement, the numbers seeking international protection increased due to an array of different reasons in the years immediately after the pandemic and we have had to respond quickly to this demand.It is very important when we are giving consideration to this, in light of debate and information that is sometimes erroneous in an era of misinformation and disinformation, that we stick to the facts. The facts are that between 2016 and 2019 an average of approximately 2,500 people per annum sought international protection in Ireland. In the three years between 2022 and 2024, after the pandemic, we saw a sharp rise. In 2022 we had approximately 13,500 international protection applications with approximately the same number again in 2023. This rose sharply in 2024 to 18,500. To put it into context, in the three years from 2022 to 2024 alone, there were roughly the same number of international protection applications as there were in the previous 16 years.

The Minister has just been before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, where he spoke about this huge escalation in demand for international protection. He cited it as the primary reason our negotiating position on accommodation was weak but we had to act in accordance with what we were faced with. I am delighted the Minister of State referenced the abhorrent racist attacks that we witnessed over during the summer on members of the Indian community. It is very important that we stick to the facts. He articulated excellently the contribution that migrants make to Irish life in a host of sectors, in particular, the public service. It is important this is not overlooked in the debate .

To summarise, I agree completely with him. The challenges he outlined are not insurmountable. We are making progress, particularly if we look at the area of temporary accommodation and the number of beds provided by the State. He cited the fact that 4,000 State-owned beds are provided to those seeking protection and there are plans to increase this number to 14,000 so that we become less dependent on private providers. This is all part of the firm, fair, effective and robust rules-based system the Minister of State outlined. He and the Minister are no strangers to this Chamber. I look forward to working with them on the challenges ahead and I commend them on their work.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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We keep hearing that Ireland is a small country with big ambitions but ambition without honesty is just spin. On immigration and housing, honesty means admitting a simple arithmetic truth. The volume of arrivals year after year is colliding with a housing system that is barely delivering the homes we need. Let me be absolutely clear: Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis that is physically impossible to fix under the current immigration policy. In the year to April 2024, 149,200 people immigrated to Ireland. This was the highest number in 17 years. This was not a one-off. It was the third year in a row that more than 100,000 people arrived. Let us look at housing. Between 2016 and 2022 just 93,128 dwellings were built. This was over six years. We are bringing in more people annually than we are building homes in half a decade. The maths do not add up. The policy does not add up.

I have said previously that we are an island nation with only two major airports. Enforcing our border and operating a stricter migration policy could and should be simple. It appears that no one in the Government is willing to do the right thing. Why is this? It is because it is a hard decision. The right policy would mean that some unfortunate people would have to be turned away. Making hard decisions for the sake of the common good is the essence of politics and of political power.It is exactly what we have been elected to do. If you cannot bear hard decisions, then step down and return to civilian life. This is not some student council or local book club committee. This is the Oireachtas and what we say and do here affects all our lives. It affects every Irish family trying to find a roof over their heads. It affects every emigrant missing home and wondering if they will ever come back. While we are importing people, we are exporting our own. In the same year, 34,700 Irish citizens left the country. That is the highest level of emigration in a decade. It is not just any 100,000; it is 103,000 of our best and brightest now living in Australia alone. That is more than the population of Limerick city. Overwhelmingly, these are young, working-age Irish people in the prime of their lives who have been forced to go to the other side of the earth, away from their homes and families, because this Government has rendered their country unlivable. Then, the same Government turns around and says, "We need to take in over 140,000 new arrivals because we do not have the workers." We did have the workers but certain elements in this country did not want to pay them the wages they needed, and other elements wanted tenants whom they could charge higher rents. That is the truth. That is the rot at the heart of this policy.

Where is the Opposition in all of this? Where are the voices defending the Irish worker? The left, who once stood for the working man and woman, have become the most energetic proponents of mass migration. They have abandoned the Irish worker, the Irish family and the Irish community. They offer no real opposition, no scrutiny and no solutions.

We are told that this is about compassion. What about compassion for the people who already live here? What about the pensioner who cannot afford rent? What about the Irish couple who have been priced out of their home town? What about the nurse commuting two hours because there is nowhere affordable to live near the hospital? This is not sustainable or compassionate; this is insane. Ireland's tradition is compassion married with common sense. Compassion without capacity collapses into crisis. Common sense without compassion becomes cold. Today, we need both.

We need fair admissions, firm limits and a laser focus on building enough homes. Anything less is not progressive, not conservative, but simply irresponsible. We need to return to a policy that puts Ireland and our national well-being first, that puts the Irish worker first and puts our communities first. If we are in crisis then we have absolutely no capacity to help others. We need to pause mass migration, reassess our capacity and build a system that works for everyone, not just for the few who profit from it. Unfortunately, I am not hopeful because when our own Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, stands up in front of the national media and claims that the statement "Ireland for the Irish" - something that many of our nation's founders, and the founders of the Fianna Fáil Party, would have thought simple common sense - is tantamount to violence then we see the depth of our leadership's inability and unwillingness to deal with this crisis. To make things worse, anyone who attempts to raise the issue of migration is a matter for public debate and labelled far right. The irony is that this immature approach risks polarising society, surrendering the debate to extremists and, ultimately, makes such claims self-fulfilling. I genuinely wonder whether many of our politicians believe what they are saying. If they do, it shows a complete failure to speak to or listen to their constituents.

Of course I cannot speak for everyone, but the vast majority of Irish people protesting against mass migration whom I have spoken to hold little or no hatred for immigrants nor for people with different faiths, skin colour or backgrounds. In fact, many are themselves of immigrant background or have immigrant friends and partners. Unlike our leaders, many of those protesting or criticising the Government's current open border migration policy understand the distinction between individual immigrants, who deserve respect and judgment based on their character, and mass migration as a Government policy, which should be debated openly for its impact on our society, social services and national identity.

Colleagues, this is a moment for courage, for leadership and for truth.If we continue down this road we will lose more of our young people, deepening the housing crisis and fracturing the social fabric of this country. I will not stand by and watch this happen, and I ask you, "Will you?"

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share my time with Senator Comyn.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking time to be here this afternoon for this conversation. It is very welcome to have a very open conversation about it. I acknowledge the good work of the Minister of State and that of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, in the area of immigration. It is also important for me to acknowledge the work that the former Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, undertook while this area was under the aegis of his Department. I welcome the transfer of it from the Department of equality, as I would call it, to the Department of justice.

I acknowledge the clarity and transparency that the Minister of State has brought to immigration. Now we can have an open and honest debate because there is a real understanding from the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. I have just left the committee. I welcome the transparency that the Minister has brought to it. I welcome the fact that the renegotiation of all the contracts is taking place. It is fantastic to see that 100 contracts have been renegotiated and €46 million has been saved since the Minister of State and the Minister came into office.

I also want to speak about the fact that 5,000 people who have citizen status currently reside in what we would call IPAS centres. Those people need to be accommodated within our own housing for the simple reason that, if we are to bring efficiency to the system, we have to ensure that those who can remain and those who must be deported are in very condensed areas.

Earlier, the Minister said that deportation orders for 3,129 people have been signed since he and the Minister of State have come into office. Of those, 1,159 have left the State voluntarily and 278 orders have been enforced. I was really amazed by the number of instances of doorstepping at Dublin Airport of 4,154. Let us be clear and transparent. We think that everyone who comes in is being processed. That is 4,154 who were actually dealt with at Dublin Airport. The most staggering figure that I found out at the committee this afternoon was that 87% of people make their applications to the international protection office here in Dublin. That in itself is telling. They are not presenting at the airport or at the ports. One would have to question or just work out where those individuals are arriving from. It would appear to be across the Border. I wish the Minister of State well in his work.

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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Like my colleague, I begin by commending the Minister of State and my colleague, the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, on the decisive and proactive stance both have taken on migration since assuming office. It has been a clear and firm message to everybody that while Ireland has a proud humanitarian tradition, we cannot allow our migration system to be overwhelmed or abused. The leadership of the Minister and the Minister of State brings a much needed sense of direction and reassurance to this debate. It is to be welcomed but we all know that migration is one of the most defining issues of our time. Across Europe, it is testing the resilience of governments and the cohesion of communities, and Ireland is no different. We must balance our well-known compassion with control, to ensure that those in genuine need of protection are supported, while also maintaining public confidence that the system is, as the Minister of State says, fair and enforced. The reality is that communities across the country are under severe pressure. Housing, healthcare and education systems are overstretched. People are very worried about the pace and scale of arrivals. My hometown of Drogheda is suffering economically from the stripping of our tourism accommodation and other buildings for IPAS accommodation. As I know from over the summer, not enough school places are being provided for the volume of new arrivals. At the same time, too many asylum seekers face long delays, poor accommodation and a lot of uncertainty about their future and status.

The benefits of migration both culturally and economically cannot be ignored. They are abundant. I live near one of the largest regional hospitals. We have nursing, hospitality and culinary. We have vibrant Indian, Pakistani and Filipino communities. We simply cannot survive without them.

I like the idea outlined by the Minister of State of a contribution initiative for a much fairer system. As the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, has said, we need a system that is rules based, transparent and efficient, but that means properly resourcing the International Protection Office to make timely decisions. It also means firm enforcement when applications are unfounded, so that the system cannot be manipulated, and it means real integration supports for those entitled to protection, enabling them to contribute positively to Irish society.

As was mentioned earlier today, another challenge is the toxic impact of misinformation and rumour, much of it spread, as the Minister of State said himself, through social media. This is fuelling division and fear in communities and we must be proactive in providing the facts, as outlined by my colleague Senator Rabbitte. We must engage openly with local people and consult them before, not after, the decisions are made. Ireland can manage this challenge but only, as has been mentioned, with honesty, resources and leadership. I believe the firm and clear approach being taken by the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, is the right starting point. It is one that the House should wholeheartedly support.

Nicole Ryan (Sinn Fein)
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Migration is one of the most important issues facing Ireland today. It touches housing, public services, education, employment and, above all, the type of society that we build. Migration must be managed properly. It cannot be left to the chaos of global markets, nor can it be dictated by the short-term needs of corporations. States have a responsibility to plan migration in a way that serves both the needs of those who come here and the communities that welcome them. Unfortunately, the Government's approach has been nothing short of an inexcusable disaster. It has failed to plan, failed to engage with communities and failed to ensure the capacity of housing and public services to meet the growing demand. The result has been division, frustration and fertile ground for those who seek to exploit people's fears for political gain. Our international protection system is not working. Decisions and appeals take far too long. Deportations are not enforced, even in cases of criminality. Meanwhile, profiteering of IPAS centres and accommodation has reached scandalous levels. We now know that private operators, some with links to organised crime, have made millions off State contracts, while communities have been stripped of any real say in decisions that directly affect them. This cannot continue. We in Sinn Féin have called for a full review of the IPAS contracts, to end planning exemptions and to properly engage with local communities before centres are located. This was not happening.

We are also deeply concerned by the Government's decision to sign up to the EU asylum and migration pact. In doing so, it is handing over powers that should remain in Irish hands. The Irish people are best placed to make decisions that reflect our unique challenges, whether that is in the housing crisis, pressures on services or our responsibilities under the common travel area.

The Government's handling of the temporary protection directive is another case in point. Continuously extending temporary measures for Ukrainians until 2027 is not sustainable. People need certainty and clarity, whether that is to support them to return home when it is safe to do so, or a clear pathway into our permanent immigration system. Then we have the ARP. The scheme is not only unfair but has had a distorting effect on the rental market, pushing up rents and reducing availability at a time of unprecedented crisis. We have consistently said that this must be means-tested, limited and restricted to genuine housing within family homes.

This debate is not just about systems and policies; it is about people. We must ensure proper support for integration. We need strategies that work from the ground up, backing community-based initiatives that help newcomers and long-standing residents alike to build shared communities. There must be zero tolerance of racism. When the Government fails to plan, it is not only migrants who are let down but the local communities who are left without resources and support. If managed properly, migration can be a positive force for Ireland. Our health service relies heavily on migrant workers. Many towns and villages have been enriched by new families joining schools, sports clubs, community groups and so on, but for this to succeed, migration policy must be rooted in fairness, planning and respect. The respect must be for those who arrive and for the communities who welcome them. Sinn Féin's position is simple: we must manage migration in the best interests of all, end profiteering, give communities a voice and ensure integration and solidarity are at the heart of the approach. That is how we build a fair society that is compassionate and united.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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This discussion is on migration, which covers both immigration and emigration. As a state, Ireland is no stranger to emigration. We have had millions of people leave our shores over the last couple of centuries. Unfortunately, we still have quite a number of young, highly skilled, highly qualified people leaving our shores. They are going to Australia, Dubai and various parts of the globe, some for the experience and to travel the world but many because they cannot afford to live here and they see no prospect of getting on the property ladder. They are going to these countries to work hard enough to get a deposit so that they can buy or build a house when they return home. That is something that needs to be addressed.

Immigration is an issue that is coming up in all our communities when we talk to people on the doorsteps. It suits some to blow it out of proportion as well. When we break down the number of immigrants coming into the country, quite a number are returning Irish emigrants. Some are coming from Britain and the EU, who do not need any visas or permission to come here. Many also come here on work visas. I commend those who come here to work in the health, hospitality, construction and IT sectors because they make a huge contribution to society.

There is also a proportion coming to seek international protection. The international protection system has been in crisis mode for quite some time. Applications are taking far too long to process. While there might be some improvement in the time, it is still taking too long. People who do not meet the threshold for asylum are not being deported. Unfortunately, we need to see people deported if they do not meet the threshold. There is also massive profiteering in the provision of frequently inappropriate private IPAS accommodation. The State must provide State-owned accommodation – proper accommodation for people seeking protection. We also need to see properly resourced integration measures put into our communities, because a lot of it is falling on family resource centres, which are doing a terrific job but they are absolutely over-worked and over-subscribed and they are not getting the resources needed to do this work. We need to put more resources into family resource centres and other services to provide integration. We also need to ensure there are open and transparent discussions with communities on immigration and international protection. It should not be seen as something that is done in secret and behind people's backs.

I want to call out those who are racist and are trying to sow division in communities. The vast majority of Irish people are not racist. Some have very legitimate concerns about the crises that face us in both housing and health. Those crises existed long before the latest influx of immigrants coming into our country, but there are people who seek to blame people coming into the country for the crises. The blame for the crises lies at the door of Governments, which failed to address them for decades. The vast majority of people coming here are also decent people who want to work and improve their living conditions for themselves and their families, just like Irish people did for many generations when they left our shores and went elsewhere.

The Government and the EU need to look more closely at the causes of migration. I do not think enough is being done on this. The causes are mainly war and climate change, yet nothing is being done about the sale of weapons to dictators in various countries where wars are ongoing and people are suffering and have to flee. The climate change occurring in poor countries is not their fault but is because of the colonial powers that controlled them for many generations and took the riches out of them. We really need to deal with the causes of migration if we are going to sort out this problem for the long term.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis as ucht a post nua.

Although migration has increased in recent years, it has always existed. The likelihood is that the level of people on the move in future will only grow, as has been mentioned, due to war and climate chaos. People move for a variety of reasons, including to escape war, conflict, oppression and poverty. They want to make a better life for themselves and their families. All of us want the same things. We want to earn enough to support our family, a secure home and, most importantly, a safe life.

Globally, forced displacement is at a record high. Almost half of the people who flee globally are children.Those who are forced to move are not anywhere near Ireland. They are in poor developing countries that have shouldered the brunt of forced displacement. Global instability, including the ongoing war in Ukraine and the horrendous genocide in Gaza, has contributed, and is continuing to contribute, to a substantial increase in the numbers seeking international protection. When the direct provision system was introduced in 2000, about 7,700 refugees sought protection in Ireland. Since then the numbers have more than doubled to 18,560 and the direct provision system, which the Government previously pledged to abolish, remains in place. Every week I get phone calls, as I am sure everyone else in this House does, from people trapped in homelessness and in the direct provision system, who have nowhere else to go. This includes families of four or five sharing a single room. Neither direct provision nor emergency homeless accommodation is ideal and each serves only to enrich the largest corporate providers of such accommodation. People living in Ireland deserve to be housed in decent conditions, whether they were born here or not or whether they came here through choice or circumstances.

Many communities throughout Ireland have been strong in the welcome and support they have provided for refugees but many of these communities, including those I represent in counties Sligo and Leitrim and south Donegal, have been the target of misinformation and disinformation. This has been worsened by a failure of State agencies to communicate properly with those communities through trusted individuals and organisations. The Minister of State mentioned community engagement officers. While they are very welcome, and the community engagement team in my constituency has a lot of contact with my own constituents, they need to be given additional powers and additional teeth so that they can advocate on behalf of people. They also need to be given more responsibility so that mediation can take place. Nobody has a veto on where anyone can live but local authorities, elected representatives and community representatives must be included and be given accurate information early on in the information-sharing process.

As was said earlier, local communities need to be made aware of any additional resources, funding and services that will be, and must be, put in place to support refugees and international protection applicants. We also need a strong and robust campaign to combat the fears, stereotypes, tropes and racism among the general public. We need to see a national counter-disinformation strategy, as per the programme for Government. We also need to consider who is benefiting from the division and discontent sown. Why are the social media and digital platforms allowing themselves to facilitate hate? They have literally become laboratories for hatred. Despite the knowledge the Government has about the harm done through social media platforms and their billionaire owners, there remains no proper regulation. The European Commission and the Commissioner, Michael McGrath, have an opportunity to use the forthcoming democracy shield legislation to force social media companies to dismantle their recommender systems that promote hate and disinformation. They are actively pushing this at people to grow their platforms and their obscene levels of wealth. Minority communities are relentlessly targeted online, including by anonymised individuals on so-called community pages and there are no consequences for those responsible. Facebook, TikTok and X are consequence-free zones for those who want to perpetrate racism and hate. At least 31 buildings, either reception centres or rumoured-to-be reception centres, have been burnt down by anti-immigration criminals in the last few years. How many of these have resulted in prosecution? All over the country, including in Sligo, we have heard about healthcare workers, nurses and doctors feeling that they are no longer welcome here. Our whole health and social care infrastructure is built upon the labour of immigrants and if they start to leave, where are we going to be?

Immigration has transformed this country in a really positive way. That people want to come here is a tremendous compliment to our society and our people. Our flag is a symbol of unity and peace and yet we see a tiny minority of people seeking to use it to sow fear, hatred and division. Our flag should fly over all our people equally. The housing crisis the Government continues to perpetrate is fuelling misdirected resentment towards immigrants and asylum seekers. The need of all people to have a safe, secure, warm place to call home should be the absolute priority of this Government but I am still convinced that the Government has not grasped the depth of this problem. Of course, it is important to have an open and frank discussion about how we establish and manage a transparent, rules-based, functioning and well regulated system. However, it is also important that we use careful, measured and responsible language ourselves, whether in this House, on social media or in the mainstream media. All across the western world we can see that anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise and we need to ensure that whatever we do in this House and in this country, we make the situation better for all people and not worse.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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I know exactly what it is like to face racism, discrimination and hate in this country. I know what it is like to see Traveller accommodation being burned. I know what it is like for members of the Traveller community who experience multiple levels of racism and discrimination. Even when looking for accommodation under the HAP scheme, people are discriminated against because they are members of the Traveller community, they are black or brown or are from the Muslim community.

The ill-treatment of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in this country has reached a frightening level. We see a lot of homeless refugees and migrants now but before we had the big levels of migrants coming to this country, we had a homeless crisis and the Government needs to take responsibility for that. No disrespect to the Minister of State, but it suits the Government that the argument is between the foreigners and the homeless Irish, which should not be the case. We have direct provision centres that are not fit for purpose. Children are living in run-down centres and hoteliers are making a lot of profit off the backs of very vulnerable people. Many people who come to this country are escaping political persecution or are moving away from their families because it is not acceptable to be gay and so on. We have to remember that nobody wants to leave their own native land. They are here for a reason, namely for international protection.

In 2020, there was a big conversation, led by the former Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, on the White Paper on ending direct provision. Where are we with that White Paper now? The Government used the Ukrainian war as an excuse not to end direct provision. I do not know whether the Minister of State has ever been to a direct provision centre. Has he ever seen the appalling conditions that women and children have to live in? They are treated more like prisoners than human beings.

We are seeing the rise of the far right and for me, that is very frightening. Our health system is standing on one leg and it would not even be standing if it were not for migrant workers, including doctors and nurses. Two years ago I was rushed to Letterkenny hospital with a collapsed lung and the doctors who saved my life were not Irish. If any of us is sick or sore and has to go into hospital, we are not going to ask if the staff have their papers to be here. We are going to accept the care they give. There are also lots of au pairs in this country working in families' homes who are ill treated. We hear talk about migrants coming here and taking but they are not taking anything from an Irish person. They are taking absolutely nothing from Irish people. This Government and previous Governments have failed the people when it comes to homelessness in this country and the provision of safe, appropriate accommodation. We need to be realistic that it is not the migrants' fault. We need to stop the divide and conquer and come together as a State and provide safe accommodation for people and not have people living like prisoners. People are escaping danger, coming here and then feeling at even more risk of being hurt on the streets of our country. We do not want that anymore. I know that the far right will run off with some of my statement here today but I do not give two --- about the far right because these are human beings. As a Senator said earlier, we must have compassion. I have so much compassion for black and brown people in this country and for all refugees. The Government needs to up its game. It has been held accountable by the European Court of Justice but is ignoring that ruling. The Government needs to work with migrants and refugees, make Ireland a safe place for them and treat people with dignity and respect. Finally, I ask the Minister of State to provide us with an update on the White Paper.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome. I thank him for coming in to debate the matter of migration. I acknowledge his work and that of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, in the Department over the last period since this area has come back to the Department of justice. First of all, I want to join with the Minister of State in condemning racist attacks and the attacks that took place over the summer on young Indian children. That is deplorable, and it needs to be rightly condemned. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State and others in meeting Indian representatives here in this country to express our condemnation of those attacks and intimidation and to show that is wrong and should not be tolerated in this country.

The importance of migrants to our economy and to our healthcare system, in particular, and other sectors has been stated here, and that is absolutely right. Anybody who has been in an emergency department, community settings or nursing homes knows the importance of migrant workers who are part of our society and who have been working and looking after our loved ones and our elderly, and the Minister of State rightly mentioned that in his contribution. When one is out canvassing at doors, and I come across this so often, one meets a Filipino or somebody who is a carer for a loved one in that house and is a valued part of that household in terms of what he or she does.

With regard to the policy for the last number of years and having had direct experience of this in my own constituency, the processes were in place heretofore and possibly are still here to a degree with regard to having private operators and having rumours out there in relation to what might happen and who might come. For example, in 2019, my experience was that there was no information about whether a premises was going to be used, who was coming, in what numbers and where they were from. That has changed to a degree latterly over the last number of years whereby the then Department of integration would have provided information on the numbers that were coming. For example, it would inform a local community that agreement was reached to accommodate 70, as it were, single men or 70 or 80 women. We have seen that in different parts of my constituency. Both of those situations have caused trouble, and I will be blunt about it, particularly if there were plans to accommodate 70 single men in a rural community. There was, understandably, uproar in relation to that. Therefore, the change to State-owned centres is right. Of course, that depends where the State-owned centres are going to be. There is no easy answer for those. The State has bought Citywest. I know there is opposition there locally. Wherever the State chooses to locate these centres, I am sure there will be opposition. That is understandable because we have seen it in certain parts of the country where there are issues. This is not an easy topic. It is not an easy topic even where the plan is to change to State-owned, but it is the right approach to have dedicated centres rather than the present system that has operated over the last two years. I would agree with the need for rules. Rules are important, and we must have a firm but fair system whereby people are processed quickly and where the rule of law is accepted and people who do not qualify and who fail in their application follow the rigours of deportation and the law.

Joe Conway (Independent)
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Before I came into the Seanad in January, for the previous 20 years I had the privilege of going around primary school classrooms for the 20 years from 2005 to 2025. It is a matter of great pride in being able to report the widespread work that is being done by primary teachers in integrating the new arrivals into Ireland and the tremendous work that is being done in social, personal and health education, but most notably in the matter of how the new Irish are being integrated and facilitated in learning Gaeilge. It is very uplifting to go into a classroom and see children, black or brown or wherever their origins are from or their antecedents, and hear them joining in on the Gaeilge lesson with as much verve as the native Irish. That sort of transfers also into community groups and sports groups. I might instance the success of a young man called Josh Zeljkovic who won an all-Ireland minor hurling medal with Waterford this year. The Minister of State would know from the name Zeljkovic that his antecedents do not come from Ballygunner or Fourmilewater or other hurling strongholds. It is just wonderful to see both in education and sporting and community life how various people and teachers and people of a positive outlook and social mien are welcoming the new Irish into this country and making them an integral part of the current life and future life of the country.

Before I go on to the downside, I just want to say that in my dealings with the Department of justice on immigration matters, although there have not been many, there is a new breath of life in the way both the Minister for justice and his Minister of State are dealing with the responsiveness to us public representatives, and I commend that. There are two items I have a concern about, and the Minister of State might address these for me. One relates to a gentleman called Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, who was the leading light, shall we say, in the big protest in Trafalgar Square two weekends ago where 150,000 people were addressed by this chap. Although he was born in Luton in Bedfordshire, it is reliably reported that he holds an Irish passport. However, there have been concerns arising from his possession of the Irish passport because it is alleged that he provided false information on his immigration documents, and he also factually has a string of criminal convictions. What is the status of the investigation into the withdrawal of the passport of that person?

Second, in relation to the 499 km of Border we have between Carlingford Lough and Lough Foyle and the 270 roads the Border crosses, can the Minister of State tell us how much they have increased the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, and the Garda workforce on the Border to police and monitor and intercept the flow of immigration that is coming from the UK across our Border into the Republic of Ireland? Border Force will tell us that the traffic is negligible in the other direction, but there is a lot of activity coming South. What is the increase in the GNIB and the Garda resources to that problem? What is the status of the passport question over Yaxley-Lennon?

Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Too often in this country, we are too afraid to speak out on these issues. It is only right and proper that in the people's representatives' Chamber in this House, we actually discuss and debate these issues on every occasion. Since having been elected as a Member of the Seanad, I have come in here and spoken on migration. It is only right and proper. I thank the Minister of State for his engagement in the portfolio to date. It remains my view that we have a need in this country for an immigration system that is fair, fast and firm. I recognise that so many people have come to the country legally, with permits, and taken up jobs and employment and are making a contribution to the country, be that the one in four nurses and midwives who the Minister of State highlighted were born outside the country or the almost one in four doctors who have taken up employment working for the health service delivering care across the country who were born outside the country. Ireland is not a racist country, but I do still believe fully that we need a system that is fair and has a clear and transparent set of rules. We need a rules-based system.It is only right and proper that those in an IPAS immigration centre who have taken up employment after being there for six months and are receiving money for that employment do actually pay a contribution towards their accommodation in that centre. I think that is fair. The Minister of State is making the right move in that area and I very much welcome it.

I recognise the fact that the system must be fast. We have to have timely processing of applications. We cannot have a system in which it takes up to two years for somebody to receive a decision on whether they have permission to remain in this country. There also has to be timely processing of enforcement. That is where the firmness has to come in. The country cannot be afraid to say, "No, you are not entitled to remain in this country, you do not have permission to be here and you must deport yourself." In situations where individuals choose not to take up voluntary deportation, the State must deport them. We should not be afraid to come out and say that. If it is a rules-based system with a rules process and ultimately the decision is taken that an individual cannot remain in this country, then they have to be deported.

I welcome the fact that there has been a 40% reduction in the number of applications for IPAS since the Minister of State took up his position. I welcome the fact that he is publishing a strategy soon. It is a very important conversation that we have to have in this Chamber. We need to move away from the emergency response. I encourage the Minister of State to move away from the for-profit model of contracting out private hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation across the country, and to take up the State-based model which centralises provision of accommodation to immigrants who have applied for temporary and permanent protection in centralised State-run facilities. That is something that should be implemented quickly.

To conclude, I acknowledge the fact that over the last number of months there have been attacks against migrants and immigrants purely motivated on racist grounds. They need to be called out and brought through the entire justice system.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening for what is a very important debate in this House. It is not spoken about very often and some might be afraid to speak about it, but it does need to be debated and we need to set the record straight on what is actually happening here in our wonderful country. At the moment, communities across Ireland are at breaking point. The Minister of State knows this himself from calls and emails to his constituency office. People are just at breaking point. Families cannot find homes, schools are overcrowded, GP lists are closed and public transport is collapsing under pressure. Young people who want to build their lives in this country are instead being forced abroad because there is nowhere affordable for them to live. Yet in the middle of all these crises, the Government has imposed migration policies on communities without consultation, resources or fairness. Centres are being opened in areas under massive strain with no proper assessment of services and no genuine engagement with local people, just a top-down approach from Dublin. Instead of planning properly, the Government has relied on planning exemptions and heavy-handed directives that ignore the reality on the ground. Communities are left as an afterthought.

Meanwhile, profiteering has spiralled out of control due to this negligence. This year alone, the State will spend an estimated €1.2 billion on IPAS accommodation and hundreds of millions more housing Ukrainians. The average daily rate paid per bed soared by 68% between 2022 and 2024. One company, IGO, paid its directors €4.6 million in 2024 from State contracts. Shockingly, contracts are even being awarded to firms linked to organised crime and fraudulent Garda vetting. Communities are left to cope while profiteers cash in. That is not just scandalous, it is a betrayal of the Irish people. The Government has failed to plan, protect these communities or safeguard the public money. It has created chaos and that chaos has bred division.

Sinn Féin is clear: we need a full review of all contracts, an end to planning exemptions and real transparency so taxpayers know where the money is going. We need a migration system that is fair for those who come here seeking safety and for the communities that welcome them. Migration can and should be a positive force for Ireland. Our health service depends on migrant workers, as many of my colleagues have said today. Many communities are enriched by newcomers, through small things like families coming over and the increase of children in those communities keeping a teacher in a smaller school because they will up the numbers. It is a good thing; we just need to have the proper resources in place. The Government needs to work and do its job. We need to plan properly, supporting our communities and stamping out profiteering. The people of Ireland cannot continue to carry the weight of the Government's failures. It is time that we put the resources in place and looked after our communities.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I sometimes think I am living in a parallel universe, sitting here listening to people make statements about immigration that some of us would have been lambasted for making a year ago. It is interesting to see Government representatives and others catch up with what the rest of us have been talking about for the last few years. We have the worst housing shortage in living memory yet we are seeing net migration of 60,000. That is equivalent to the population of Monaghan. Last year, the Government promised up to 40,000 new homes yet the CSO has confirmed that it delivered only 30,000. We see planning permission overturned for housing estates due to population targets and at the same time, hotels are quietly contracted for emergency accommodation, which has led to some devastating effects on our tourism industry. We need to look at the number of people coming into the country legally as well as illegally. The number of work visas issued has quadrupled, from around 10,000 a year ago to nearly 40,000. We do not have the capacity to keep up with the number of work visas being issued. Of course people are frustrated when planning applications for estates are overturned while a wealthy few are profiting off IPAS centres that are exempt from planning laws. The loopholes that allow IPAS accommodation providers to bypass the planning process must be closed immediately.

Back in July, the Government said that 2,000 people currently in migrant accommodation, who have been granted asylum and are permitted to stay in Ireland, are to be effectively evicted from the IPAS accommodation they are in and thrown in the direction of county councils and emergency homelessness accommodation. The system is not able for that. We are saying clearly that this plan must be reversed. I want clarity today on whether the Government is proceeding with this. We cannot put 2,000 refugees on top of our homelessness system, which does not appear to have any spare beds the moment. It is a stupid and inhumane plan that is going to make migrants homeless. It is going to make locals less likely to get an emergency bed. It is going to dramatically increase the monthly homelessness figures and cause huge tension on the ground and competition for resources. What is the point or logic in moving migrants from IPAS hotels into a local authority homelessness hotel? It seems the Government just wants to pass this problem to the local authority rather than deal with it. We cannot magic up services and housing. I cannot understand why that would be in any way controversial to discuss. If we want a functional immigration system, then we need to acknowledge the lack of capacity. The Government's current system amounts to stretching a single blanket across ten people and in the end someone is left cold.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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It is important to step back from framing of migration as a crisis, a problem or even something new. Migration is one of the great facts of humanity and it has happened always. In Ireland, we have been reminded in very stark terms recently, looking at Gaza, of exactly how colonialism operates. We have also been reminded of exactly how famine impacts.The piece we should not forget and should have to mind is migration, how it was at the time, when we look back to the Famine, when two million Irish people went to the United States and Liverpool in a very short space of time and there were panicked articles in the press in the UK, Boston and across the US about what these Irish would do, and how the Irish were treated. We know that many of those who left and travelled as migrants contributed to the building of America, a country which is, with the exception of the Native American indigenous persons, entirely made of migrants, something one would not think when we see some of the rhetoric being employed there currently.

I have a few myth-busting facts and will share some of them: the fact that Ireland has incredibly low levels of illegal migration - 0.3 persons per 1,000, well below the EU average of three; the fact there is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker; that a large number of migrants are children; and that asylum seekers are a very small part of the migration that happens in Ireland, which again you would not believe when you hear the rhetoric that is used.

One of the problems we have had in Ireland is that we have not been planning appropriately. It is not that we need to magic up things. It is that we created the Housing for All strategy under the previous Government which literally did not plan for migration. It included nothing in terms of a demographic fact, which we knew even then, for example, regarding Ukraine, that there would be migrants arriving. Therefore, when migrants arrive, in particular when asylum seekers or others fleeing desperate situations arrive, it is treated as a crisis, deployed from a different Department, and a question of what do we do with 200 or 100 or 60 people who have arrived, when in fact it is entirely predictable and should be planned for if we are genuine about housing for all. It should be part of a strategy.

Migration is being used internationally now as an excuse. We face real crisis in terms of climate change and what that means for the desertification and making unliveable of large parts of the world. We face a real crisis in respect of conflict which again, we see in the European Union. We are funding and supplementing some of the arms manufacturers who fuel that crisis. These are genuine things we should be afraid of, but instead, we have fear focused on, fed and stoked towards migrants, who are at the blunt edge of the things that are a threat to all of us and to our well-being.

We criticise the United States but we need to look at Europe. We used to rescue 8,000 people every year from the Mediterranean, and then it was decided to move from a humanitarian to a security focus and to disappear those persons so that, instead, we had them in camps in Libya or elsewhere. This is crucial. I have a specific question for the Minister of State. A terrible proposal was made by the European Union which Ireland, as I understand it, has not opted into yet, that people would be deported to countries to which they have no connection, the same thing we see happening in the United States, simply because the EU might sign a deal with that country. Can the Minister of State confirm Ireland has not opted into that - I believe and hope we have not - and that Ireland will not opt in to such a programme which would be going against all basic principles of human rights? Can he confirm we will not opt in to that optional protocol from Europe?

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank all of the Senators for their contributions. It has been a very interesting discussion, with a very interesting range of views expressed, some of which I would agree with and some I would have issues with.

It is very important to restate some of the things I said in my contribution at the start. We must have a firm, fair and effective system concerning immigration and migration into our country. There is nothing wrong with saying or wanting that. It is important not to allow Members to misrepresent the fact that we do not have open borders. We do not have an out-of-control migration system. We have a regulated, rules-based system. We have a system which effectively allows people to come here to work because they are providing essential services. I say to some Members who made comments, which were, in my opinion, ridiculous nearly, about wanting to in some way change the system so that we would not have the doctors and nurses or the construction workers to build the hospitals and houses we need that that is not a credible position and needs to be called out for what it is. We need a system that allows people to come here and work. The most important thing we do every year is to make sure that key, skilled workers come here so we can continue to deliver the services all the people living in this country need and rightly deserve. I will always support that.

One of the Senators made an important comment about the absolute attention paid to international protection applicants. International protection applicants amount to 3 to 4% of people coming into our country. It is right we have a discussion about how we deal with them. It is right we opt in to the migration pact, which will mean we will process people making that application in 12 weeks on average. Do you know why that is right? It is right because it is right for them, first and foremost, because it takes them out of limbo and gives them clear certainty in a regular period of time. It is also right for the country because if we are making decisions at that speed and rate, we are going to reduce the overall cost to the State of providing international protection, which is a key factor. It is wrong that we are spending so much money on IPAS at the moment; the Government recognises that. It is why we want to move to State-provided facilities. It is why we want to cut the cost and reduce the overall number of people arriving. About 80% of people are deemed not to have made a valid claim after they make their claims. We have to have a deportation process at the end of that for those people.

We also have to have the facilities and the integration programmes, which are absolutely critical. There are a number of funds in my Department which are all about recognising that integration is vitally important for those who have come here and will be making their new life, whether they have come here with a work permit or have come and claimed international protection and been successful.

I have very little time, I have to be honest - maybe I should not say that - when people try to say both things simultaneously. There was a contribution made which talked simultaneously about our school system at breaking point and then concluded with the final remark that it is absolutely vital that people come here because they are keeping teachers in place in the school because the numbers have gone up. You have to be careful if they are going to make those type of contributions that you recognise that that is basically contradicting yourself within the space of four minutes. Yes, there are real, valid concerns in communities and we want to address them. That is why we put community integration teams in place, because we recognise we should not have the way in which we dealt with what was an emergency response when the numbers soared after both Covid and the Ukrainian situation. We want a properly planned system. We community integration and involvement. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and I have both been very clear that we want to negotiate down the commercial contracts, because it is essential. We want people providing good quality, effective, proper services to people who are going through our international protection system.

There are allegations made regularly concerning whether the type of providers or people involved are good providers and whether people are involved in organised crime. I have been opposed all my life, since I was a teenager and entered politics for the very first time, to people being associated with organised crime. I would never support that. It does not matter to me whether it is an IPAS centre, laundering diesel up around the Border or changing currencies. There is no time for people who are involved in crime or doing things wrong. What we have to have is good, clean people providing good services. We will have to rely on some commercial providers for a long time into the future, but the majority of the services we provide should be State-run services, saving the State money and providing first-class accommodation and requirements to people.I would say, in general, in terms of how we are looking at migration, we are going to bring forward a plan next year. As I mentioned in my opening contribution, it will be the first time we will have a migration plan for our country that looks at how Ireland will be in the future and what we want. Yes, we do have to have not only this type of discussion but a willingness to make decisions about the Ireland we want to see in the future. It is going to be different to the Ireland of my youth. When I left school in the 1980s and college thereon, most people emigrated. We came back but an awful lot of us emigrated. We made contributions in other countries first and then came back to make a contribution in Ireland. We are going to have a very different Ireland from this.

If people will forgive me for mentioning "The Traitors Ireland" on RTÉ, I was struck the other night by how this programme represents the new Ireland. It represents people who have come here, including someone who, I heard her say, had come here through international protection. If that programme had been made ten years ago, it would have been a very different type of programme. It shows so clearly that the new Ireland we are going to have will not be a homogenous Ireland. It will be an Ireland that I believe still has to have the basic values we hold dear. These are inclusivity, respect for others, working together, and having a system of rules and laws while recognising we have to do it in a way that is inclusive.

I will take one final moment to speak about the importance of our flag, which I am wearing today. Our flag is a flag of inclusivity. It should not be abused or used in a way designed to send messages that we want to exclude or we do not want to be an inclusive country. We have to recognise what the Tricolour really is all about. It is a great representation of the type of Ireland we surely want to see, not only for the people who are here today but for the people who will be born in future generations and the people who will arrive to our country to join us in the years ahead, which I believe will be to build a much better Ireland.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here and I thank all Members who contributed today. When is it proposed to sit again?

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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Tomorrow morning at 10.30.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.