Kathleen Funchion Calls for Faster Garda Vetting for Ukrainian Workers

Thanks very much, Lasky and Carla, and I welcome the chance to speak on this, and obviously I think everybody is very mindful of the situation facing people in the Ukraine, and everybody is thinking of everybody today who are facing that situation, and those fleeing, those who are trapped, I suppose, without the choice, maybe, or chance to get out of the Ukraine. I also, like Deputy O'Brien, want to acknowledge the work that has been done to date, in particular by yourself, Minister, and I think in fairness to your department, just as the spokesperson and as the chair of the children's community, sometimes I feel like everything falls to your department, and this was another added difficulty that nobody foresaw, and in fairness I think you have dealt with it extremely well to date, and yourself and your staff should be commended for that. I also, as well, I also want to acknowledge the great work done, let's say, in my own two counties of both Carlow and Kilkenny, where people really have road in, in communities, and, you know, whether that's through, kind of collections, or people providing accommodation, or providing other services, and, you know, trying their very best, particularly with children, to ensure that they are integrated, and maybe getting involved in some of the activities. I also want to mention, I also want to mention, I know we're talking about housing, but I was in Wicklow on last Friday, and visited a number of early years facilities, where they have Ukrainian children coming, and I've said, they have really, just totally integrated, and it's fantastic to see that, and it's really, really welcome. They actually did raise a point, as well, that I'm going to take the opportunity to say, in relation to some Ukrainian women, who actually are qualified in the earlier sector, and would like the opportunity to work in that sector. Now, we know, as well, that there is, you know, a severe staffing shortage, as well, in that area, and it would be fantastic, obviously, when people do want to work, and want to be able to get that chance, so I did give a commitment, that I would raise that, and see, they were saying, one of the major difficulties is, the Garda vetting. Now, nobody is saying that people need to be the better, of course they do, but if there was anything that could be done to speed up that process, or to help people, to access those jobs, because while services are crying out for people, and there are people who really would like to work, it would make perfect sense, so I did want to take the opportunity to raise that. I also did want to raise a point, and actually, Deputy O'Brien raised it, in relation to employment, and I have seen, unfortunately, a few situations in our own constituency, where it really mainly affected people who are part-time, or students who are doing weekend and summer work, but still, that work was invaluable to them, where they've been asked, or been told now, at the moment, there isn't any work for them, because of the situation, and that there are, you know, maybe weddings and various things have been cancelled now, and hotels, so if that could be just really considered, and taken into consideration as well, and I suppose, you know, the other point I just wanted to raise, and it is a difficult one, and it is hard to know exactly how we can police this, but I suppose just to raise that there has been some incidents of maybe people being taken advantage of, and I think when we are speaking on this issue, which is really important for all of us to be saying to people, please go through the proper channels, while I know there can be goodwill in kind of WhatsApp groups, and Facebook groups, there is also, you know, I've just been a bit kind of horrified myself at some of the stuff that I've seen, and I would just encourage people to go through the proper channels, to the Red Cross, and various other channels, not to be, I know there's a lot of people with goodwill, and most people are very well intentioned, but there is, as we always see in all these situations, people who will exploit a situation, and just to encourage people to make sure that they are going through the proper channels, so that everything is vetted and above board, so that everything is vetted and above board, and yeah, that's, I'm going to finish at that last time, Carla, thank you.