I send my sympathy and solidarity to the peoples of Kurdistan, Türkiye and Syria.

If you go online, open the newspaper or turn on the radio, you cannot do any of those things these days without reading or hearing about the far right. They have come to prominence through their organisational support for anti-refugee protests, but who are they?

The largest such party is the National Party. It is described by the Far Right Observatory as being anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and white nationalist. Its leader has attended meetings of European neo-Nazi groups. The observatory lists about a dozen such groups and remarks that many have adopted the great replacement conspiracy theory which argues that white populations are being deliberately displaced from their homelands as part of a plot often blamed on Jews or globalists. Hardcore racists in some of these groups have tried to promote the racist myth of a link between black and brown men and the incidence of gender-based violence. These groups have never displayed any concern for the victims of gender-based violence before and are simply trying to exploit the issue for racist ends.

An opinion piece by Justine McCarthy in The Irish Times last week, entitled “Government needs to acknowledge its role in creating anti-migrant tinderbox”, said the following, "The spurning of economic immigrants arriving on Irish shores while seeking special status for Ireland’s own ... emigrants abroad is the sort of 'do ... [as] I say, not ... [as] I do' double standard that gives succour to xenophobic agitators worming their ideology of hate into the public mindset." I could add that a Government which boasts about deporting nearly 130 people in January and signs this country up to a fortress Europe policy that has resulted in nearly 25,000 men, women and children drowning in the Mediterranean in the past ten years only helps to feed an anti-refugee narrative that the far right taps into.

It is on the issue of housing, however, that this Government has handed the racists their number one gift. The Government’s housing policy has forced record numbers into emergency accommodation, it has sat idly by as 50,000 houses were left vacant for six years or more, and it has allowed speculators to hoard vast tracts of land in the middle of a housing emergency.

It is, of course, in large measure true that refugees and those hardest hit by the housing crisis are not competing for the same spaces. I preface the following comment, however, by saying unambiguously that refugees are welcome here. When many people compare the efforts this Government has made to house Ukrainian refugees, inadequate as those efforts are in many respects, with the lack of effort and urgency in housing the victims of this housing crisis, they feel aggrieved and the door opens up for the racist messaging of the far right, facilitated by this Government. Do you, Deputy Varadkar, accept that your Government’s appalling failures on the housing issue have given a real gift to the far right in this country, and what do you intend to do now to undo the damage that you and your Government have done?

I want to be very clear that I do not accept the suggestion of double standards in this regard. I have often had the opportunity to speak to our colleagues in the US, in the US Administration and to Members of Congress.

When I say to them that we wish to have something done to help undocumented Irish people in the US or, indeed, undocumented people from other parts of the world, I precisely point to what we have done, because what we have done as a Government in the past number of years is put in place schemes to allow undocumented migrants to become documented. I refer to those who came here on students visas and those who built lives here and had children here, who became undocumented. All we are ever asking the US administration to do is what we have already done for undocumented people in our country. I totally reject the argument of double standards on that point, because it is misinformed.

I think we will both agree on one point: there is absolutely no excuse for racism of any form. I had the opportunity to meet with the trade union and business leaders this morning under the Labour Employer Economic Forum. One of the leaders of one of the health unions told me there had been protests outside of a hospital in Dublin in recent times, against foreign nationals who are members of staff in that hospital.

While there is no excuse for any form of racism, under any circumstances, it really is a low blow and a new low if healthcare workers, to whom we are so grateful for having come here, are now facing protests and racism from those who do not believe they are welcome here. That is really appalling and the Government will fight against it. It is one of the reasons for our national action plan against racism, which will be published in early March. The plan will be led by the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, but will be a whole-of-government effort and will include funding for integration and counteracting racist activities.

Racists and the far right will blame whatever problem the country is facing on migrants. That is the way it works and the way they think. If we have a housing crisis, it will be said the foreigners are taking our homes. If we have an unemployment crisis, it will be said the foreigners are taking our jobs. If we have high levels of crime, they will blame the foreigners for those. If there is violence against women - one of the oldest tropes in the book - they will blame it on migrants and people who have come here from overseas, especially those who are brown or black.

We should not play into those arguments and I think the Deputy is doing that inadvertently. Whatever problem any country faces, they will blame it on the brown man or the brown woman. It is housing now, but it could just as easily be unemployment or crime. The Deputy needs to be careful that he does not inadvertently assist them in the kinds of things he is saying.

Well said.

I can assure the Taoiseach I am very careful in what I say and I am very clear on my message that refugees are welcome here - all refugees - including the 130 people that this State deported in the past month alone. Does the housing crisis add to the crisis of racism in Irish society? Without any question, it does. Of course, they will blame everything. However, the housing crisis is a gift to them, which is why I have no faith in the Government to sort this issue. My faith is in the ordinary people.

We need a mass movement from below in Irish society on this issue. That is why I am very pleased that on Saturday, 18 February, the Le Chéile coalition is calling people out on to the streets. We need masses of ordinary people to rally against racism and fascism. This needs to be a demonstration which is not just anti-racist, but anti-Government as well, and calls for action on housing and the social crisis. I appeal to people to attend in very large numbers.

I note the fact that Fórsa is backing this demonstration and calling on its members to attend. That example needs to be followed. I call on every union in the country to make a similar call and help to make this a massive demonstration on 18 February.

None of us in this House wants to see the issue of race or migration become centre stage in our politics, most of all somebody like me, given my colour and my family background and the fact I am biracial. I ask the Deputy to consider his approach to this, and to consider it carefully. I know he is well-intentioned and fervently anti-racist and internationalist. I absolutely accept that. I just ask the Deputy not to play their game inadvertently. Do not make any excuses for them. No matter what problem a country faces, the far right and racists will blame it on migrants. If we did not have a housing crisis and we had an unemployment crisis, they would blame that on the migrants instead.

If we did not have an unemployment crisis, they would blame crime on the migrants. They will always pick on whatever issue is hurting a country at a particular time and try to blame that on the other. I would just ask the Deputy not to make excuses for them or do anything that might inadvertently play into their arguments.

I never make excuses for them.

The Deputy is making excuses for them.