I thank all the People Before Profit activists who stood for election and campaigned for our candidates and all those people who voted for us. We plan to use our increased council representation to fight for working class people across this country. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are looking pretty pleased with themselves today. I think the Taoiseach said that Fine Gael did better in these elections. Pride comes before a fall.

Be careful, so.

One crucial fact that should be mentioned is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael combined had the lowest percentage vote in the history of the State in local elections. Their vote share dropped. They did not have a better election. They had a worse election. Their parties are still deeply unpopular.

How much did you get?

How much did you get?

A general election will focus the minds. If a clear left alternative is on offer and there is a chance to end the rule of 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which are responsible for the housing crisis, the health crisis, the lack of action on the cost of living, and the disgraceful situation facing families with kids with additional needs, I think many people will take that chance and a much greater number of people will turn out to do that. We will see.

In this election, we saw a cynical attempt by the Government to make immigration the central issue to distract from its failures. Almost every week in the run-up to the election, the Government had new policies of performative cruelty. I have new figures to show that the Government spent almost €100,000 on clearing tents and erecting fences at the canal while there are thousands of empty beds in State-provided accommodation. The Government announced cuts to payments for Ukrainian women and children and means testing of asylum seekers. It was a trap designed for Sinn Féin, which it unfortunately fell right into by welcoming each of these measures and saying that it would go further. The truth is that none of these policies will do anything to address the housing crisis, the health crisis or the cost-of-living crisis. That €100,000 would have been much better spent on emergency accommodation for homeless people.

The truth is also that the vast majority of people did not fall for this weapon of mass distraction. The big issues on the doors were the housing crisis, healthcare, investment in facilities in our communities and so on. Immigration is not the cause of any of those issues. Responsibility lies with the Government and an economic system which prioritises profit over people's needs. It poses a challenge for the left. We need to come together and to mobilise on the issue of housing. We need a mass demonstration, supported by the trade union movement, on housing before the budget, because with this Government, housing will continue to get worse and worse, because it represents those who profit from the housing crisis, not those who suffer from it. Finally, there will be a general election. We need a vote left, transfer left movement. We need a commitment from parties of the left that there will be no coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael no scapegoating of asylum seekers, and a commitment to take on those who are benefiting from these crises.

Let us allow people to have a choice in the next election. If we inspire people with the chance for an alternative to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, many will take that choice.

One choice has been ruled out anyway.

I am not really sure where to start there. There will be a general election in due course. I am really looking forward to it because there will definitely be alternative political views on offer. I am not sure who is in this left coalition or whether Sinn Féin is in it.

Maybe its members are not sure themselves either, but they will work it out after they have the review.

Every single week this Government will bring forward new policies, ideas and plans to make progress on some of the issues that are often intractable and difficult because that is what being in Government is about. It is about turning up to work every day, working hard, making decisions and delivering for the people and that is what we intend to do.

The Deputy is beyond wrong when he comes to our approach on migration in terms of how he categorises it. One thing for which I respect the Deputy, and I mean this sincerely, is his consistent calling out of racism. I support him when he does this. We have had exchanges in this House. All of us in this House must continue to call out racism and all examples of racism. I accept the Deputy's bona fides in that regard. When it comes to migration, however, the absolute worst thing for a party of the centre to do, and I know the Deputy might not like parties of the centre, is get off the pitch and shirk responsibility and say it is too difficult and challenging an issue and that there is nothing we can do about it or ask whether it is not just a global challenge and whether we will all just commentate about it. That is a failure of leadership. The only thing that happens when we allow that vacuum to be created is that it gets filled by the far right. I am absolutely determined, as a politician proudly of the centre and as Taoiseach of this country, to not in any way, shape or form allow others to seek to sow division. Therefore, what we are going to do in this country is have a functioning migration system that is fair and has rules. The rules will be applied without fear or favour.

We will provide accommodation and shelter, safety and access to sanitation for people. However, we will not just have a conversation about accommodation because that is not the totality of any country's migration policy. We will also talk about processing times. We will talk about how the welfare system interacts and how that happens relative to other European countries. We will, of course, work with the PSNI and others with regard to collaboration because we live in a common travel area. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is doing work in that regard. We will have deportations for those who do not have a right to be here because that is how any migration system must work. We will continue to invest in integration because this country is better as a result of immigration. Our health services, businesses, shops, communities and schools are all the better.

This is about having a balanced approach where the compassion of the Irish people is met with a common-sense system that works. Let us be honest if we can with regard to this debate - we are building a migration system in real time. We have gone from approximately 3,500 people per year coming to this country to more than 20,000 people. People are welcome in Ireland. We want to help people who have a right to be here. In order to do that, we need to make sure we have a system that is efficient and effective. Sadly for the Deputy, though, and I know he will continue to do it through his own reasons, this party is not a nasty party. This Government is not a nasty Government when it comes to migration. It is one that actually wants to push back against the rhetoric of the extremes, deliver for people and make sure we have a sustainable system.

The Taoiseach said his party is not a nasty party. His party has chosen, with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, shamefully, to give €100,000 to private companies to clear tents, which arrive back the next day, put up fences to block access to our city and to leave people sleeping in tents on our streets. Nobody should be sleeping in a tent on our streets. It is a cynical policy choice to do so. I make the point again; there are empty beds in the State accommodation system that the Government is choosing not to use, and why? In my opinion, it is extremely cynical politics. The Taoiseach knows that if a central issue in the next general election is housing, the cost of living or the healthcare crisis, they are not winning grounds for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They want to centre the issue of migration and to present themselves as being hard even though it will not make a single difference. All this cruelty the Government is doing does not make ordinary people's lives any better whatsoever. The job on our side of the House is to say that very clearly. Migrants are not responsible at all for the housing crisis the Government has caused.

I thank the Deputy. The time is up now, please.

They are not responsible for the cost-of-living crisis. They are not responsible for the health crisis-----

The time is up, Deputy. You went way over time earlier.

-----and I think most people from having this conversation a lot-----

Will the Deputy conclude?

I certainly will. When we talk to people, most people are actually open to hearing that and they can be won to that argument and know it is the Government's responsibility. They want there to be a real alternative-----

Time, Deputy, please.

-----on offer in a few months' time.

It is always interesting when the Dáil reconvenes after an election and people decide to present the election results in whatever way suits them. All I know is that more people went out and voted for my party than any other party. More people went out and gave Fianna Fáil seats in the local elections than any other party. Many people voted for the Green Party. The people on this side of the House receive many mandates in urban and rural Ireland in big towns and villages. As for this idea of reject, mass, mobilise and get the Government, I am sorry, but it just did not go like that in the past few days, and better luck next time.

We will continue to have a multi-agency approach to this issue. We will not tolerate a siloed approach where one organisation says that is a matter for another Department. I cannot tolerate that sort of nonsense.

The reality of the situation is we were seeing illegal and dangerous tented villages emerging in parts of this city. We were very near a public health emergency. I will make no apology for making sure the laws of the land are upheld and for making sure people are in-----

What laws?

You cannot just erect a tent wherever you want and start blockading streets. You cannot do it. I know that is the Deputy's politics.

It is not true. It is not illegal.

It is not what this Government will stand over. We will provide people with shelter and sanitation. As a result of our work-----

I thank the Taoiseach. The time is up.

-----the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has provided hundreds more people with access to safe accommodation.

If you provided accommodation, there would not be the tents. Does the Taoiseach think they want to be there?

The Deputy has no solutions at all but he does not want any, in fairness to him.