A number of years ago, I chaired the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions. At that time, the public service ombudsman and Ombudsman for Children were looking for oversight of the direct provision system. I was the chairperson of the committee and I led the delegations. We travelled to direct provision centres around the country. We met with the asylum seekers. We insisted on absolute access to every corner of the direct provision centres. We met with a range of stakeholders. I am glad to say that the Ombudsman for Children and public service ombudsman did get oversight of the direct provision centres because there was real concern, particularly for children in those centres. As we speak, however, the Ombudsman for Children does not have oversight of the temporary emergency centres all around the country that have been set up in recent years. How can that be defended? We have children in those centres and there is no oversight. We have made a mess of this whole issue of the challenge of dealing with asylum seekers. It is a challenge for every country, particularly in Europe and North America. However, it is a challenge we have to face and deal with and make sure people's dignity is protected in the process. I have watched this unfold for a long time, but I now need to give testimony to what I have seen in Donegal and what really happened in my and Deputy Doherty's home county. It was absolute opportunism and greed. We had a situation where there were buildings, in some cases former manufacturing factories. We had hotels that were not doing terribly well. We had pure opportunism. Groups of businesspeople, in some cases failed businesspeople, networked together to source buildings. They would talk people who were maybe considering renting badly needed rental properties into doing deals. Two things happened: we had the influx of Ukrainian refugees - there are 10,000 today in Donegal - and then we had the challenge of asylum seekers. Those things came one after the other over a number of years, and it was handled absolutely abysmally. There was no consultation with local communities. There was no consultation with health services, schools or public representatives. The Minister and Minister of State know that we are coping with a profound humanitarian disaster in most of Donegal which has been caused by defective concrete blocks. Thousands of homes, both private and council homes, are falling apart. People's lives have been destroyed. We cannot find rental properties for them. We cannot find resources to help people have somewhere to stay while their homes are being rebuilt, and large numbers of people are locked out of the scheme. That is one of many reasons why. We are dealing with all those challenges, and none of that was taken on board. Would you believe that, per capita, Donegal took in more Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers than any other county in the State? That happened because groups of opportunists came together and made fortunes. This is what I resent because I know the people of Donegal. I know them, and the vast majority of the people who were expressing concerns do not have a racist bone in their bodies, but they were genuinely aggrieved and taken aback at what they saw incrementally happening again and again. I can tell the Minister something else; it certainly was not in the interests of asylum seekers because they were put in the back end of nowhere in some cases, in totally inappropriate accommodation and, indeed, in urban areas in totally inappropriate accommodation. I will go back to the tour of various direct provision centres, where rooms of men from all different nationalities and cultures were plonked in together, treated with indignity, for years languishing in a system that was failing them. I remember all of that, and that continues. To be very clear, the Government failed and disrespected the communities across Donegal, and it utterly disrespected the asylum seekers in terms of their dignity and rights. None of that was taken on board. That is why there is such anger around the country. The best way we can defend ourselves from the racists who are out there in this country and who are fomenting hatred is to listen to local communities and treat them with dignity and respect and hear the concerns they have. The worst thing we can do is to have zero consultation. The worst thing we can do is not to talk to the local schools, local councils and local health services, but reward the few. The Government has made millionaires out of some people in Donegal who were failed businesspeople. The whole county knows it, and people are furious about it and deeply hurt across the county. Does the Minister know what they are really angry about? When they were raising these matters, there were people who were labelling them as racists and as uncaring, which is completely off the mark. This is what we need to do, and I am going to say it clearly as a proud left Irish republican. The best way to protect our people from the scourge of ugly racism, indifference and everything that comes with that is to treat working-class communities with respect. It is to engage and consult with them, look at where the most appropriate locations are and have State-provided, State-resourced locations. This is a critically important amendment from Deputy Carthy. We know from experience in Donegal what needs to be done. To be very clear, I am somebody who in my political life has shown leadership in protecting the dignity and rights of asylum seekers. I made sure that the Ombudsman for Children and public service ombudsman had oversight of the direct provision system but, right now, the Ombudsman for Children has no oversight of asylum seeker children. There are tens of thousands in these temporary emergency centres around the country, and that is utterly wrong. What we can do is treat asylum seekers with dignity and respect while their applications are being processed but, by God, the Government also has to treat communities - working class communities that have been left behind and failed - with respect too. If it gets those two things right, then we will have a system that functions. This amendment is critically important.

Sentiment score: -0.04