THE DÁIL HAS debated a motion tabled by the Rural Independents group calling for an end to an alleged “open doors” inward migration policy, with TDs from across the Government and Opposition benches criticising the proposal and the rhetoric used.
During the debate, the government minister overseeing Ireland’s asylum seeker and refugee supports, Roderic O’Gorman, accused politicians of cloaking themselves in “victimhood” when they claim they have been prevented from discussing immigration.
TDs were discussing a motion brought by the Rural Independent Group discussing immigration, which called for “an end to the “open doors” or “unlimited” inward migration.
Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny told the chamber that international protection applicants are fingerprinted, photographed and have their details recorded, with “the information checked against a number of international databases”, including Interpol and Europol.
“That to my mind is a form of vetting,” the Sligo-Leitrim deputy said.
He was speaking in response to TDs including Michael Healy-Rae who said that says anyone who arrives in the country should be properly vetted, further claiming that Ireland “can’t take anymore” migrant people at present.
The Kerry TD said that “healthy people” were coming to Ireland, “saying that they’re from places of trouble”.
He questioned whether applications were genuine and said people were arriving in Ireland without documentation they must have had when they boarded a plane.
Responding to the motion, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said he has been open to discussing the issue at hand.
“There’s no attempt to silence debate on the issue of migration in this country. I have engaged in countless debates in this house and the [Seanad], I have engaged in countless debates around the country with individual groups,” he said.
“Deputies, this [is an] attempt to cloak yourself in victimhood . . . Go talk to an Afghan man or a Syrian man in international protection accommodation. Ask them what government suppression is like.”
The Green Party TD said the notion added “nothing” to the discussion around immigration, blasting the focus on ‘unvetted males’ by opponents of immigration.
He said that international protection now means “fairly and humanely” examining a claim for asylum.
“Men are killed in war,” he said, “Men are targeted, men are victims of war, and yes, sometimes men flee war. Some deputies might think they would be braver, but it’s very easy to say that from the comfort of our seats here in Leinster House.”
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns noted that there were “four references to single males” by TDs in the motion, adding that there is a lot of “scaremongering” around “military-aged men” coming to Ireland.
The Cork South-West TD said that the reasons behind men seeking international protection in Ireland is due to families in dangerous situations having to make “incredibly difficult decisions” and decide which family members need to flee their homeland first.
Families send those who they feel are most likely to reach safety. Most often these are their fathers, their brothers and their sons or making the perilous journey to find safety so that they can someday provide a lifeline for their family.
She said they failed to have a “basic understanding” of the process facing asylum seekers coming to Ireland, and instead was “point after point of dog whistles”.
Cairns added that while some asylum seekers may come from countries deemed ‘safe’, that classification “doesn’t mean that the country is safe for everyone”.
“Asylum seekers are not just fleeing war. They are members of the LGBT community women’s rights activists, members of political groups . . . the international protection process doesn’t determine anyone’s refugee status on the basis of origin.
“Everyone is assessed individually and they should be.”
Pa Daly, Sinn Féin justice spokesperson, said that it was worth remembering that approximately 100,000 people arrived into Ireland last year on work visas, many of whom are staffing nursing homes and hospitals.
Daly added that nation states “can and should manage their borders” and said that Sinn Féin “do not believe in an open border policy” for Ireland.
“We believe that all states should manage migration and this includes having an immigration and asylum system with functioning rules and regulations,” he said, adding that there are too many delays in the system for processing applications.
Carol Nolan, an Independent TD in Laois–Offaly who kickstarted the Dáil debate this morning, claimed that TDs were facing being silenced and “drowning out” when trying to discuss immigration, criticising non-government bodies for advocacy on the issue.
“The NGOs do not represent all of our constituents,” Nolan said.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Labour TD in Dublin, said that immigration holds societies together, adding that some TDs were “consistently linking immigration with criminality” and making people “fearful of the outsider”.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the Rural Independent motion was, “opportunistically, disgustingly”, an attempt to use the Dublin riots to “press forward the idea that immigration asylum seekers are a problem in our society”.
Murphy claimed that Rural Independent TDs had sought to “whitewash” the role of the far-right in the riots, echoing allegations he made in the Dáil last week accusing one of their members of “laundering far-right conspiracy theories” in the Dáil.
One of those TDs singled out by Murphy, Tipperary deputy Mattie McGrath, claimed he had been wrongly accused of being far-right, adding that he “never organised a protest in my life”.
He claimed that the debate had been suppressed and accused TDs of trying to “gaslight” him and the public.
A government counter motion, which passed with an amendment support from Labour, noted Irish emigrants’ contribution to the social and economic fabric of countries around the world, while emphasising the need for migrants in Ireland due to demographic change in the workforce.
It also called on TDs to refrain from supporting, aiding or excusing people who spread “racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic or sectarian disinformation or conspiracy theories of any kind”, and to condemn those who spread such disinformation.
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