Danny Healy-Rae

Overall sentiment: 0.15
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I am glad to get the opportunity to talk in this very important debate. Ireland, for its size, has done more for asylum seekers and refugees than any other country in Europe. That is a fact. We have to realise it. We are a small country that spent €1.2 billion last year on refugees. It is fine and we are glad to have done that, but how long can this continue? We have a lot of our own people who have competing demands for houses, health, social welfare and all the different things. We do not have the leprechaun's purse. That is the fact about it. I will commend Jim O'Callaghan on extraditing people who do not have a right to be here. That is what we want him to do. If they do not have a permit and are not legally here, we cannot support them. We do not have goldmines, diamonds or oil, or maybe we have, but we will be not let drill for it. We do not have any of those natural resources or an endless amount of money. We welcome all the different nationalities of people who are working here, who are legally here and have permits. They work in our hospitals and do fierce work all over the country. We are very grateful for all they do and the expertise they divulge in our country, but we have to be honest. We must have some controls. I heard a Deputy mention people who were here five years. I know people who have been in America for 20 years and cannot get a green card to stay there. We have to be truthful and know what is going on in the rest of the world as well. Poland is the nearest country to Ukraine and it is not taking anything like the amount we are.

Sentiment score: 0.15