Mattie McGrath Demands Urgent Debate on Immigration Surge

Good morning, back to you. I called for a debate in this house on the impact of immigration, to inward immigration. Your Minister for Immigration, Roderic O'German, at TD, responded to say that we are currently providing accommodation to 64,000 people, many from Ukraine. He went on to list that 17,000 of those people who have come to our shores fleeing wars elsewhere. He listed in his response wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, from where people have come seeking international protection. Your Minister failed to mention countries of Georgia, where 2,300 applicants have come in the first 10 months of this year, representing a tenfold increase from 2021 figures. He failed to mention Algeria, which has seen the numbers of asylum seekers increase from less than 100 in 2021 to a staggering 1,318 for the 10 months so far in 2022, an increase of more than 1,000%, with similar figures from Somalia, Nigeria and Albania. I'm not sure now if the Minister didn't know the figures or was he deliberately misleading in his response. You dodged the question and passed it to Minister O'Gorman. So I'm asking you today if the International Protection Office has witnessed a staggering 516% increase in new arrivals seeking asylum, including those coming from Ukraine. And that's a very important figure, not from Ukraine. No country can stay in such levels, particularly when we have the, in the midst of a housing crisis, unprecedented, health capacity, massive crisis we've just been talking about, and a savage cost of living in crisis, a crisis. Shockingly, 3,354 persons arrived in the state undocumented in the first eight months of this year. This is a reply I got from the Minister for Justice, who admitted that these passengers had presented documentation at the point of departure, but were no longer in possession of such documentation when they reached immigration services at Dublin Airport. That's a scandalous situation. They're the Department of Justice figures. Every sovereign nation has a right to protect its borders, and every state has not only a right, but a duty and obligation to balance the needs of its citizens and its communities with the needs of those seeking international protection. A distinguished medical consultant in the Tipperary, Dr Mary Ryan, has expressed huge concerns about her immigration policy, and the impact that's happening on the already overstretched and disastrous health service. She has called for a pause, and she has called for a pause, and she's a woman of a well-recognised, so I'm once again asking you, Taoiseach, if we can have a debate on this important matter, in this House, an urgent debate, or if we can have a special committee established urgently to examine the impact of the ongoing numbers of migrants into this country. It's having on our already overstretched and failing state services. As I said, it's vital that we have a debate on this. The public are asking and wanting it, and it seems to be a kind of a... Time is up. I know I mentioned policy here, both in this House and elsewhere. Thank you. Thank you. Taoiseach. Thank you, Deputy, for raising this important issue. The first point I would say is that we are in unprecedented times, and the world is not in a good place. We have a terrible, immoral and illegal war waged on the people of Ukraine. By President Putin and by Russia, which is causing untold killing, untold damage to energy infrastructure, to weaponised food, has weaponised migration, and I think it's causing huge uncertainty across the continent of Europe and across the world in terms of economic development. And so the most fundamental outcome of the war is the fact that so many young people are losing their lives on the front. It's quite shocking in the modern era that we're witnessing a humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen since World War II on the continent of Europe. And since October last, the Russians are targeting critical energy infrastructure and water facilities. And millions of homes in Ukraine are experiencing power outages and supply of electricity to Moldova is affected. That's the context in which we're having this discussion. It is terrible. And the result has been millions and millions of Ukrainians leaving their country. Now, Ireland has welcomed and taken in, along with other European member states, and as part of the European directive, temporary protection directive, we have directly housed 47,000 people fleeing the brutal war, but the state as a whole, in terms of private accommodation, so on, about 65,000 refugees from Ukraine and the rest of the world have been housed directly by the state. That includes international protection. Now, that's not easy. It's unprecedented. It is challenging. We have never before had to deal with numbers of that kind or in that volume. And on the Ukrainian situation, the vast majority have been mothers and children and many communities across the country. And many people have opened up and have welcomed Ukrainians in, given the circumstances that they're fleeing from and they're leaving family behind them and everything. But it certainly does create huge pressures on our services and so forth. But in my view, in a worse time situation like this, I don't think there's a choice here. And I think we have to work with other European countries in respect of this. The most effective thing would be if Putin called off this war and stopped it. But at the moment now what's going on is they're trying to freeze people, starve people. And I think it's quite shocking what's going on. And it's a premeditated attack on people and the basic necessities of life. And in my view, it constitutes a war crime. On the international protection, the numbers have gone significantly up. And what I would say to the deputy is I have no issue at all with a debate in the House on this. And I have no issue with a committee being formed if that's the desire of the House to get more into the details on the specific issues. Maybe that's something that can be worked out. Thank you very much. Deb Deere. The plan is to fail to plan. The plan is to fail. And we cannot possibly plan for the needs of our citizens and our community with no limits on inward immigration or controls. So we need a serious examination there. You've seriously waited at the end of your three minutes to mention the 17,000 that didn't come from Ukraine and many who haven't come from war-affected countries. So migration is both outward and inward. And it's part of our nation's history for generations. There's no denying that. But there are many benefits too from immigration and migration. And we accept the desire of young people to get expertise and to travel. And many have left our shores and been there from that. And many doctors, thousands of them, and nurses have come to our shores and all kinds of levels in medicine. And I wanted to say I was in St Vincent Hospital for six days last week. And I got exceptionally care in that public hospital. Exceptionally care. And it was delivered by many, many new people from India and all over. And I wanted to say that they're playing a valuable role. But we take off the blindfold, Seashook. And there's not blindfolded. You know better than anyone what's going in. What's coming in. And it's downright unacceptable. And you won't deal with it. And you're part of it. And you're obsessed with the word Ukraine. Obsessed with it. I accept that we have to take people up to Ukraine. I'm asking about the 2300 Committee of Dublin in April with no documentation. Surely we're not a free for all. A freeloader completely. That they're not sent back. We can't go anywhere without our passports. As simple as that. And that's the way it should be. And we have to have respect for our people and our communities. Which you're denying. And it's causing strife. And it's going to cause more strife and angst. And if we don't deal with it. Thank you. I just want to assure the Deputy, I'm not obsessed with anything. But there is a reality of a war that's on our doorsteps. There are 17,518 people accommodated in the IPAS accommodation, international protection system. And that has increased. The average before COVID in 2019 was about 3,500. That was the expected annual average. That was projected by earlier reports that it would be 3,500. So it has increased significantly. And every country has its systems. We work with within the broad European. We're a country that believes in multilateral-based, rules-based system. An international protection. People, when they arrive under that system, they apply for asylum. That's then adjudicated upon. Lots of resources have been allocated to speed up the arbitration of that decision. And if people are not legitimately, you know, if their application is refused, then people in that situation can be deported. That's a big point. Thank you. You're welcome.