Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 23 May 2023

Graemeagat, Aosteach, Ceann Comhairle, Minister, any and all forms of bigotry, racism, xenophobia, intimidation, abuse, physical attack, psychological attack are to be and have been roundly condemned. I take to my feet firstly to condemn all of those actions without equivocation and to condemn the small minority of people who believe that it is not alone acceptable but in some way politically profitable for them to engage in this type of behaviour. I think it says something about political life in Ireland that the vast majority of us who put ourselves forward for leadership and election make no bones and state those realities very plainly because these are the values of the Irish people. And this evening in your speeches all three ministers who have presented have quite correctly condemned the so-called far right and their actions. And I support you 100% in that barricades are wrong, blockades and picketing of accommodation of anyone, but particularly vulnerable people is wrong, wrong and wrong again. But I have to put it to you Minister, what I did not see from any of your speeches was any acknowledgement of the clear things that you have gotten wrong. I heard no acknowledgement of the real human need for communication, consultation, dialogue and information, not vetoes, but the need to demonstrate respect for communities, the need to trust communities. The vast, vast majority of whom, in my experience, when given information, particularly in an emergency situation, will rally and rally hard to welcome, to support, to understand, to help find solutions. And I am frankly alarmed that something as basic as this, as basic a requirement as this, has not, it seems, yet fully landed with government. You need to talk to people. You and I had this conversation six, seven months ago, when there was a problem down in East Wall, a very, very diverse neighbourhood, as I told you Minister at the time. A neighbourhood that has always welcomed newcomers, no matter their colour, no matter their creed. But still, we seem to come back to this same thing again. So we need to accept, as political people, you have to talk to people. You have to give them notice. A full welcome requires good notice, trust and respect. We also have to resource our communities. And I welcome very much the 50 million community recognition fund, but it was announced five days ago. We are months and months into this. Who thought for a second that you could simply grow populations in neighbourhoods or villages and towns, and not front load community support and investment? That was simply wrong and it needs to be acknowledged. So I would say welcome to that funding and give you notice that more will be required, undoubtedly. There has been a lack of recognition of the pressure on access to services. In some of the areas that I represent, we have the lowest proportions of general practitioners in the state. You cannot see a doctor for love nor money. Now, the newcomers, of course, have to have access to medical care. We all want that. But how does that work when the system is already under so much pressure? And how does government not see that and deal with that? So I want to bring a bit of a reality check to this discussion. Because I think we are all of one mind that we will call out any form of racism. It is not acceptable. Frankly, it is repulsive. That is what I believe. But we also need to understand that finger pointing or ignoring communities that have been left behind, communities that are also under pressure, is not part of the mix of an Irish welcome. We need to listen. We need to hear. We need to meet. We need to share information, give assurances. And when the assurances are given, government needs to be as good as its word. And in that regard, I want to say to you, Minister, in the public gallery, there are people here from Eastwall, members of the Residents' Association. They have been looking to meet with you, as you know, for quite some time. I hope that you will commit to meet with them and to discuss all of these matters and to find common cause and common solutions, because that very, very definitely can be done. Thank you.