The Minister will know the views of Sinn Féin about this legislation, as articulated by our spokesperson, Deputy Carthy. We are particularly concerned that Tusla and the various Departments under the Government's direction do not have the resources to meet the requirements laid out. That is the fundamental concern. However, I will talk practically about my experience in Donegal in recent years and the mistakes made by those who came before the Minister. There was always a challenge with asylum seekers and the direct provision system, with people languishing for years. I previously chaired the petitions committee and we were asked by the children's ombudsman and the Ombudsman to look at the need for their oversight of the direct provision system. We visited direct provision centres across the State. We met asylum seekers. The length of time they were waiting for a decision and languishing in these centres was unacceptable. I am glad to say that the Ombudsman for Children had oversight after that, as did the Ombudsman. I am sorry that the Ombudsman for Children does not have oversight, as I understand it, of the temporary emergency centres dotted across the State, including in my county. I will talk directly about our experience. What we have seen is that there is the challenge of supporting Ukrainian refugees, which people all across County Donegal did. What then emerged was the challenge of a large upsurge in asylum seekers coming to Ireland. It appears that the approach of the previous Government to that was that wherever there was a hotel that was not doing too well commercially or wherever there were opportunistic developers who could locate empty buildings or who maybe had buildings of their own, it was in these places that asylum seekers were located. There was no thought about where the most fitting communities, best health facilities, best primary care and best education facilities were. None of that was taken into consideration. It was utterly unfair to the asylum seekers involved and to the communities that were expected to host them. Indeed, public representatives were learning about it after the fact. The bus would come in, the asylum seekers would be located and then we would be informed that a contract had been signed. It was absolutely appalling, and it happened again and again. In Donegal, we are dealing with our own humanitarian crisis relating to defective concrete blocks, which has affected thousands of private and public houses, commercial buildings, public buildings, schools and crèches. All of these places are falling apart and we have reached the point where we cannot provide housing for the families in the country who have to be relocated. No consideration whatsoever was given to that. Wherever a hotel or a building was available, that was where asylum seekers were located. That was completely unfair and unjust. They would be stuck in the middle of nowhere sometimes, with no resources, no supports, nothing whatsoever. That had been the Government's strategy for the past number of years. When people reacted angrily to that in communities, it was totally unfair to say that they are racist and unreasonable. That was not what was happening. We were watching people becoming millionaires. In some instances, these were individuals whose businesses had failed and who were bankrupt. They suddenly became millionaires overnight. People can see it. That is the injustice and context. I want the Minister to hear that from Donegal. The previous Government got it badly wrong. Do not repeat the mistakes it made.
Sentiment score: -0.12