I extand a comhghairdeas mór to our new Uachtarán na hÉireann, Catherine Connolly, on her historic landslide win. I know as President she will do us proud just as Michael D. Higgins has done.

I also want to acknowledge the loss of the great Sr. Stan. She did the State immense service through her work on social justice and she leaves a truly remarkable legacy. May she rest in peace.

I condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on an IPAS centre in Drogheda on Friday. The lives of children were seriously endangered in the setting of a deliberate fire. Two babies, including one who is only 20 days old, were hospitalised in what was a hideous criminal attack. I know my colleagues in Drogheda, Deputy Ged Nash and Councillors Michelle Hall and Pio Smith, are working to support all those affected. I pay tribute to the courage of the firefighters who saved lives on Friday night.

In the context of that horrific attack and the awful riot in Citywest, I want to raise two matters today. The first is how we stamp out racist violence and the second is the way in which Government policy and rhetoric emanating from Members of this House can stoke anti-immigrant sentiments that form the thin end of what is a wicked, violent wedge.

More than 300 IPAS and Ukraine accommodation centres operate across the country. They are people’s homes. Dozens of times in recent years, residents have faced attacks and violence in what are modern-day pogroms. In my own constituency, I work with volunteers who are dealing with knife attacks on men who are forced to sleep in tents due to the Government's failure to house them. The State must step in. The Government must now undertake an urgent security review of all centres where refugees or people seeking asylum are living. Completing this work in advance of the second anniversary of the Dublin riots would be an appropriate deadline.

We also need a reflection on and a review of the language used and policies implemented by the Government. The conflation of immigration with criminality in rhetoric can contribute to an environment where violence can develop. So too can irresponsible rhetoric that blames the housing crisis or the lack of public services on immigrants.

Regrettably the three largest parties in this House, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, have recently issued communications that have leaned into anti-migrant sentiment. These are not comments from rogue Government Members, in the case of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, either. This week, the Tánaiste said that our migration numbers are too high. He implied that people facing deportation make up a significant proportion of Ireland’s inward migration. Of course, this is wrong. However, it was not a slip of the tongue. His Fine Gael colleagues have since repeated it, and the Minister's party leader, the Taoiseach, has backed him.

Minister, you are in Government. Any flaws in the asylum system are your responsibility. Your party colleague holds the justice and migration brief. Any blame for the failure to provide fair and effective procedures lies not at the feet of people seeking asylum but with your Government and previous governments. Will you undertake a safety audit of accommodation? Will you now advance a public information campaign on the benefits to this country of inward migration and the facts about immigration?

The shocking and disgraceful recent attacks, including in Drogheda over the weekend and in City West before that, should serve as a stark reminder to everyone in this House how careful and responsible we must be when discussing and debating immigration policy. These disgraceful attacks are not reflective of the views of the overwhelming majority of our people whose first instinct is one of compassion for those people being subjected to intimidation and of revulsion towards those carrying out these attacks. People across our country are proud that Ireland is a tolerant multicultural and diverse country. They recognise how reliant our economy, our public services and our communities are on the contribution of those from migrant backgrounds. I see it in my constituency, which is one of the most diverse constituencies in the country. I thank the many people who have come here for the enormous contribution they make to our economy, our communities and our society. We need to be clear on that in all of our discussions when it comes to migration.

Today the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is publishing the Future Forty report, which speaks to the huge contribution that many people from the migrant community make to our economic growth. Our continued success as an economy is dependent on attracting the talent and the people who make that contribution.

It is also important to be clear that everybody in this House should be able to have a broader debate on what system of migration we have. Everyone on this side of the House shares the Deputy's view that we should have a compassionate, caring approach to anyone who comes here and treat them with humanity and dignity. We should be clear that many of them come from places where they would be vulnerable. In his remarks, the Tánaiste said migration is a good thing, but he was just making broader remarks on the system we have. We should be able to have a mature debate about the type of system we have. We are clear that it should be a rules-based system with enforcement. It is important that we have that in the context of managing a complex issue globally. That is why there is constant evaluation of the various factors that are contributing to overall migration into our country. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is being proactive across a number of measures he has introduced, while also sending a strong message on the contribution that many people who have come here make to our economy.

On the Deputy’s question, there is a security review, and that is part of the wider work that goes on with any centre that becomes applicable under IPAS. To be clear, this Government shares the Deputy’s perspective on how we treat people, but it is important that we can also have a debate on how we can have a balanced approach that is fair and also manages the consequences for those who are not given status. There need to be consequences for those who are not given status. If they have appealed and are not allowed to stay, they need to be managed in the context of a functioning migration system. That is the broader context in which this debate should be had.

I thank the Minister for his careful and responsible words in his response. He is absolutely right that people must of course be able to debate migration policy, but let us do so in a fact-based manner. Let us use careful and responsible language. I certainly do not think the Tánaiste’s conflation of all migrants with a tiny number of people facing deportation orders was responsible. The Minister has acknowledged the reality that the vast majority of people who have migrated to Ireland are here to work and that our schools and hospitals are staffed by people who have come here to provide an essential service – people who are propping up our creaking healthcare, education and nursing-home systems. That is what we all know to be the case, so why is there a focus in Government rhetoric on scapegoating those who come here seeking asylum and somehow conflating them with the vast majority of migrants, who come by different means entirely?

Just this week, the Cabinet has agreed a mean-spirited rent payment for people who have been fleeing Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine. It is not a revenue-raising measure; rather, Fine Gael sources have admitted, it is designed to disincentivise people fleeing war from coming here. Could we have a fact-based information campaign to provide an evidence basis for the debate on migration, please?

The Deputy is conflating lots of different things-----

I am not conflating them.

-----unfairly and inappropriately.

No.

The Tánaiste was inappropriate.

It is important that everyone in this House be able to have an honest, open debate about migration policy.

Fact based.

The Government needs to examine incentives, disincentives and push and pull factors in the context of migration policy in Europe and internationally. Every policy should be evaluated and recalibrated to manage the various factors that contribute to the overall level of migration to an economy, while also acknowledging the huge contribution people continue to make to our economy and communities. It is just unfair to take a particular sentence and try to conflate what has happened, in a shocking manner, in certain instances.

He knew what he was doing.

The rest of them were.

That is why the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is correct in continuing to evaluate our migration policy and examine the wider factors contributing to significant increases. Those who are working and in centres should make a contribution. That is fair and proportionate, and that is the right policy approach. Anyone in this House would agree that if you have income and the means to make a contribution, you should make a contribution. Most people across the country would support that.