We will divide it between us. This is a very important debate because all around the world we are seeing an increase in violence, genocide, brutality and gross inequality. That is the reason people are fleeing the countries they are from and that we are discussing tonight the measures the Government is taking, which very much fall in line with the British Labour Government and other governments around the world. Some of the things that are happening are very similar to what Trump is talking about. We do not have Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, yet going around the streets, but we have pictures of people being pushed onto planes. Charter flights are being commissioned at huge cost to the taxpayer so the Minister can tweet about them the next day. I want to make some points about the EU migration pact, which is part of the vote we will have tonight. It is opposed by 160 different organisations including Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the ICCL and the Irish Refugee Council. These policies are fundamentally racist. People go on marches in support of Palestine yet disseminate the idea that people should have their rights taken away. I have been contacted by loads of Palestinian people who are looking for asylum and for family reunification. We know there is genocide in Sudan and in Congo. Our office is inundated with people in need of help in these situations who are trying to get their family members out of conflict zones. You cannot go on a march and the propagate this nonsense as well. The pact would set up detention centres; speedy deportation; no right to an in-person appeal; limitations on legal representation; a process where asylum seekers would be sent to third countries that are deemed safe - the Tories were doing that in Britain - biometric data; face scans; fingerprints, including of children; and restricting access to the asylum process, particularly for those who are vulnerable. Anybody going along with and leaning into this is just leaning into more racism in society. I refer to some of the things that the Cabinet is proposing. It is a racist myth that people are shopping around for countries to go to. People flee wars. People flee persecution, as we know. Forcing asylum seekers to pay for unsafe substandard accommodation, with people baying for their blood outside in some cases, is wrong. It will not bring in any money either. We have all said that this is virtue signalling and it ignores the context of the housing crisis. It was reported on "Morning Ireland" that, in Belgium, the Flemish Government tried this in 2014. It pushed asylum seekers onto the streets into homelessness and that was all it did. On the proposal to require five years of residency, loads of people I know and loads of people I have made representations about are trying to get their status. They are working here, they have got degrees and they have all sorts of qualifications that we need, and now the Minister is going to make it more difficult for them to lead a decent life here. It is shameful that anyone is going along with this. On the proposal to not count time on welfare if you are disabled, many people have disabilities when they come here and have very sick relatives as well. This is Dickensian and Victorian. We are a wealthy country but the wealth is in very few hands. We also have massive labour shortages. There are real effects from this nonsense for every migrant in this country. They are living in fear because the Minister is stoking up racism and he is encouraging and creating oxygen for the far right.

Sentiment score: -0.17