Last week, I sat in and listened to much of the debate on this particular amendment. I agreed with a lot of it. I agree that Government made an absolute mess of this entire issue. There was a lack of preparedness. The Government did not take on board repeated warnings and repeated recommendations as to what it and the country needed to do to house and process asylum seekers. I absolutely agree that what the Government has done is to funnel huge profits to developers rather than build the public services and public facilities that we need. I agree that the lack of communication we have seen caused huge problems in communities. It could have been handled much better. Once an IPAS centre went into an area, there was a real opportunity to bring in supports for that area, but that did not happen. That certainly would have assisted. A lot of the difficulties that we saw within communities were fuelled by the Government - public representatives who did not back the Government's policy and spent most of their time out in communities arguing against it and creating division. They really did not show any leadership in this. There was also a big problem with misinformation, whether online or in public forums. That was never countered either by the Government or by those public representatives. There were a lot of problems in how the Government has handled the issue. There was a lot in what the Sinn Féin representatives said last week. When you are trying to communicate something, you do not just communicate by what is written down and what you actually say; you are communicating by your tone. You also communicate your message by what you do not say. What was not said last week by Sinn Féin was that in many areas the communities came out and supported those centres and they really got behind them. If I was someone who had been through the asylum process or who was currently in the asylum process, the impression I would get from TD after TD who spoke on it was that having asylum seekers in your community is the worst possible thing to happen to a community. That is the message I would have picked up from what Sinn Féin was saying. It was being seen and represented as a blight, putting huge pressure on communities. What Sinn Féin failed to do was to understand that, in many situations, a community can take on and really open their arms to people within the asylum process and to IPAS centres. If I look at my own county, I see the number of people who were quietly, often secretly, working in the background because they were afraid when there were really heightened tensions in the community. There were so many people working quietly in the background providing English classes and lifts, collecting clothes, and setting up the Sanctuary Runners.

Sentiment score: -0.04

People were working with those within the IPAS system and getting them involved in Tidy Towns. They were out painting railings. There were groups like Bray Welcomes, Wicklow Welcomes, Blessington Welcomes and Newtown Together - so many groups and people within communities who recognised that this situation was a difficult one and that there was no perfect answer, and that actually the best thing to do was to just try their best despite the Government making such a mess of it and making it the worst possible start for people. A lot of people in the community tried their best to make things better for those people in asylum centres. Something that was also not mentioned last week by the Sinn Féin TDs is that the people who are coming into our communities seeking asylum bring a lot to us. They bring a lot and they are working in our communities. A lot of the people who are in the IPAS centres began to work the second that they could apply for their work permit. Before they could get their work permit, they were out volunteering. They wanted to get involved in their new home. They wanted to participate and to contribute. Many of them are still working and living in Wicklow. They have built homes for themselves, started families and made lifelong friends, including the friends that they made among the locals who taught them English. They are still in contact with those people. These people who are coming into our country seeking refuge bring a lot and add an awful lot of value. I did not hear that last week from Sinn Féin. What the party was communicating last week was that IPAS and asylum seekers are nothing but a big problem and communities cannot be expected to integrate people or to work with them. That is wrong, because it sends a very clear message to many people. We know that a lot of people are going to take that message and run with it. They will terrorise and carry out racist attacks. The words that are spoken in here carry weight. We have to be so careful with the message we send.

Sentiment score: 0.10

I am really disappointed with the message that was sent by Sinn Féin.

Sentiment score: -0.53

The reason Sinn Féin can get away with sending that message is because the Government has failed. It failed to prepare. It failed to respect people's dignity, and it continues to do so. The Government created this situation where there is a vacuum of information and supports and that is feeding what we are seeing now. When we talk about social cohesion, the Minister is absolutely right, there is a real risk to social cohesion here but we can get this right now. We really can, but the debate we are having on this Bill is not the answer to getting this right. I ask the Minister to reflect on that. We all need to reflect on what kind of leadership we are showing here, the message that we are sending and what we would like to see in our communities. Some of us need to be more responsible in how we are dealing with this issue.

Sentiment score: 0.05