I am glad to talk on this very important Bill this evening. I thank the Minister, Deputy Jim O’Callaghan, for taking this issue by the scruff of the neck because, since he came into office and took over this role, he has already put people on the plane back to the countries that they came from if they were not entitled to be here. That has not been done in the last number of years with previous Ministers, and I am grateful to him for doing that. We have to differentiate between the people who are coming here. There are people who are coming here with work visas and they are very welcome to work here. Many of them are badly needed and they have trouble in getting permanent visas or getting their family, wives and children brought over here. Reputable employers are raising concerns about that. They may have men they have trained in and people who have very skills in the areas where they are working. We appreciate those people and we need them. We need the system to help them to progress and to stay here when they are working like this and they are needed. The other ones we can do without are the people who come here with no passport, and seem to arrive here and demand everything. We know what it was like for the people on the Muckross Road in Killarney when 70 or 80 asylum seekers were put into a house alongside elderly women on that road. They were not vetted and nobody knew where they were from or why they were there. That is very wrong because vetting is seriously important and if they have no passports or identification, they cannot be vetted and they should be sent back exactly to where they came from in the first place. The changes to the international protection system will ensure that anyone who has been granted asylum in Ireland is only permitted to avail of family reunification when they are financially self-sufficient and can provide for those they wish to bring here. The Minister is also proposing to introduce power to revoke or refuse a residence permit for refugee in circumstances where they are found to be a danger to the security of the State or have been convicted of involvement in serious crime. While these situations may be rate, there are a lot of them at times. It is important that these powers are provided for in law and that these people are sent back to their country of origin. The scheme will be implemented over a planned 12-month period, allowing for the development of systems and resources to assess eligibility, share data securely, and collect and process payments. While not all international protection applicants are working, many are. It makes sense and it is only right for these people who are earning an income and paying tax to also make a contribution to the State for their accommodation costs. Other member states operate those systems already. There are two rules for applying for citizenship. The Minister is proposing to update the rules around how people qualify for citizenship. At present someone wanting to apply for citizenship by naturalisation must have been resident here for five years. The rule for people granted international protection is different in that they only need to be here for three years. The Minister is proposing to update that so that they will have to be resident here for five years before they can apply to be citizens here. It would be very important to see if there is any way that we can fast-track the pathway for people who are working to stay here. As I said, many employers and having difficulty in sourcing staff. They may have them on a time limit or whatever it is and when that time is up, they are ordered to go back and they are not able to get an extension. I ask the Minister to review that and ensure that people who want to work and are working here are facilitated in their quest to remain here. At the same time, those people who come here without any identification, have no vetting and are not prepared to say where they came from or how they came to be here, must be sent back by return plane to wherever they came from last - whatever airport they got on. I will be supporting this. It looks like we will have some plan or some form of order to follow now because we did not over the past number of years. Many people were hurt in rural communities when they saw people landing there and they were not sure where they were from. They did not have any vetting and they were worried about them, especially women who were walking the walks they used always walk in the evenings but had to stop. That is not right. This is our country and our women, men and children must be protected from whoever new is coming in. If the Minister, I or anyone else inside in this Chamber is going for the job, we have to be vetted and vetted several times. The same thing has to apply to people coming in here. They have to be vetted. It is the most important thing. We have to understand and be sure where they come from. I urge the Minister to continue in his work because he is a massive improvement on what we had under the previous Government. We look forward to supporting him.

Sentiment score: 0.09