Ivana Bacik: Challenge Far-Right Rhetoric on Migration

Ciann Comhairle first, just to commend the great Oscar wins at the weekend for Jesse Buckley and Ritchie Bainham and of course the win for the Irish rugby team as well. Minister, yesterday we watched the White House ceremony where the Taoiseach sat silent, utterly sidelined, while US President Trump ranted and raved about Europe, about NATO, about wind farms, about Keir Starmer, about immigration and much more and it was deeply disappointing that the Taoiseach did not push back harder against Trump's delusional ramblings, in particular to condemn Trump's illegal war on Iran. One thing however, to be fair, we can be glad about is that the Taoiseach did push back against some of Trump's comments on immigration and I was pleased to hear the Taoiseach defend Europe and defend European migration policy and indeed to say that Ireland benefits from our migrant communities and the skills they bring here and it was entirely appropriate for the Taoiseach to bring that message on St. Patrick's Day from a nation of immigrants because for generations the Irish national story was about our people finding refuge abroad and that's why the Labour Party have now asked your government, Minister, to launch a positive information campaign about migration in Ireland. We need a campaign based on facts and based on real stories. The fact that sectors of our economy and our public services, like healthcare, like hospitality and retail, simply would not function without the skilled people who have come here from other countries to bring their skills and their experience. We need a campaign about the facts, about the positive impact made by so many who have come here to seek work or indeed to seek refuge from war or persecution. But instead of that fact-based campaign that we need from government, we've seen far-right rhetoric, myths and misinformation about migrants go unchallenged for far too long, Minister. We've seen intimidating protests. We've seen the appalling misuse of our national flag. And last week we saw reports that your department's new immigration strategy apparently is going to be for the benefit of the Irish people, founded on respect for social and cultural norms and the rule of law. Somewhat concerning language, doubling down on some dog-whistle rhetoric and using hostile language about inward migration, amounting to the othering of people from different countries. So Minister, I'm calling on you as Justice Minister to take heed of the Taoiseach's words yesterday on immigration and to support the campaign that Labour launched last week. We call our campaign Together We Thrive. It showcases the stories of migrants who've come to Ireland, who've made a contribution. Opening a restaurant in Dublin, doing volunteer work in Sligo, teaching in Cork. These are the stories of people who came from Syria, from Ukraine and from India, who've made such a positive contribution to our economy and to our society. So Minister, instead of performative deportations and draconian legislation on immigration, let's see your government now embrace this campaign, challenge the pernicious far-right rhetoric on migration, show solidarity and leadership with our new communities. So I'm asking will you sign up to our Together We Thrive campaign? Because this is the real story of migration to Ireland. Deputy, any fair-minded person looking at the events in the White House yesterday would recognise that the Taoiseach did an excellent job in extremely challenging circumstances. Obviously if you'd been there you would have dealt with it completely differently and more effectively on behalf of the Irish people. But of course we know what would have happened had you been the Taoiseach, because you had made the decision in advance of the visit that the Taoiseach shouldn't go there. So had the Labour Party been in government there would have been no engagement in respect of the United States of America. It was a very important message that the Taoiseach delivered. It's an extremely difficult time in terms of the relationship between the United States and Europe. I thought it was a real advantage for the Taoiseach to be there yesterday as the leader of a European country that isn't a member of NATO. I think he did Ireland and Europe proud in terms of setting out the values of Europe and indeed in setting back some of the rhetoric of President Trump which as everyone can appreciate can be difficult at times. I also welcome what the Taoiseach had to say not just in respect of Keir Starmer but also in respect of Europe being a great place to live and indeed in respect of immigration. And the Taoiseach did emphasise in respect of immigration that there was a rules-based system operating not just in Ireland but throughout Europe. And one of the criticisms of President Trump's regime is that there are no rules in respect of immigration in Europe and that clearly isn't the case. So the Taoiseach deserves to be commended in respect of the message he delivered yesterday. In terms of what you've said about immigration law in Ireland, as I've repeatedly said Deputy, I want and the government want to ensure that we have a rules-based system. That people will know whether or not they qualify with those rules to stay in Ireland and if they don't qualify they have to leave. There is nothing performative about deportations. They are an essential part of Ireland's immigration strategy and neither I nor the government are going to apologise for them. If we don't have deportations I'd like you to tell me in your reply what should be the response when somebody with a deportation order refuses to leave the country. You also criticised the new immigration policy that's been formulated by Minister Brophy and myself in the Department of Justice. For many years we've never had a migration strategy in Ireland and it is important now that we formulate one. It's been too much developed on a haphazard basis and I think everyone will benefit from seeing a written down policy in respect of migration strategy. You criticise me for including within that policy paper that was drafted a number of weeks if not months ago that there's a reference in it to the fact that immigration policy should be for the benefit of the Irish people. Like it's astonishing that I have to stand up here Deputy and say any policy I develop it's not going to be for the benefit of the Italian people or for other global people. It's going to be for the benefit of the Irish people in the same way as if Minister Hayden was developing an agriculture strategy it would be for the benefit of the Irish people as well. Well Minister the Labour Party have articulated a very clear migration policy of our own, fair and effective of course, rules-based of course, but also with room for humanity, for compassion and it's interesting to hear your emphasis on rules-based system because of course yesterday in the White House at the same meeting the Taoiseach also raised with President Trump the need for a special deal, a legal pathway with the US for Irish immigrants and certainly it's very welcome to see the Taoiseach making reference to people from Ireland who are living in the US and who are in fear of ICE, who are in fear of the deportations being pursued by Trump, but the policy is very different to that being pursued here in Ireland because this week the International Protection Bill which you've initiated, it's back at committee stage in the Senate, hundreds of amendments tabled, in the Dáil amendments only as far as section 22 out of 238 in the bill were reached, draconian changes on family reunification not debated or scrutinized at all in the Dáil before the guillotine was set. So I could list dozens of other issues in the bill and indeed we did and other opposition parties also. So will you commit to having a full scrutiny of the legislation in the Senate and will you launch a positive campaign on the benefits of inward migration? Each year my department issues tens of thousands of visas on foot of work permits granted by Department of Enterprise so we are a very open economy we welcome in migrant workers in fact if you look at the Irish workforce we have a very high significance of workers who come from overseas. We've had a very positive experience with migrants who have come to Ireland to work. We've done a really good job in integrating them notwithstanding the fact that there are people out there who want to politicize it, polarize it and create violence between different groups in our society. I believe government has done a very effective job in respect of it but what is important deputy is to ensure that there is a rules-based system and the humanity and compassion that you refer to is very much built into the statutory regime that we have here whether it's the International Protection Bill or whether it's the rules that operate in respect of work visas. So we've been very welcoming to people who have come to this country. We're an open economy we welcome them in but we have to have a rules-based system as well.