I welcome some of the Minister's moves in this space over recent months. It must be said, however, that it is deeply regrettable that, as a sovereign nation or state, we tied ourselves to the EU migration pact. We signed up to EU fines, irrespective of the fact that we have a common travel area with Britain, of movements in relation to the BritCard and of the potential change of government in Britain and what that will mean for Ireland. Tying ourselves to the migration pact will result in devastating and potentially significant fines down the line. I welcome the change in rhetoric from the Government. The Minister has been a welcome change from his predecessor, it must be said, but when we drill down into the detail and the cost of the IPAS system, we find it is extraordinary. It is very clear that nothing has changed as of yet. We submitted a parliamentary question and the data in the response are staggering. Up to the end of last October, nearly €1 billion was spent on IPAS. Therefore, last year's budget for IPAS will have exceeded €1 billion. In 2024, it also exceeded €1 billion. An extraordinary amount of money is being spent on the IPAS system. Imagine what we could do with an additional €1 billion every single year. We could build the Galway ring road, for example. People, including taxpayers, are frustrated, for a number of reasons. One is the litany of financial failure by the Minister's Department in relation to contracts and the oversight of spending. These are not my words; it is in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. What the report reveals is extraordinary. One company overcharged VAT by €7.5 million, and only €1.5 million was recovered. The report found serious issues with compliance and the potential for the State to overspend by millions of euro on contracts. What is happening is extraordinary. Another reason for frustration is the abuse of the system itself. The vast majority of applicants ultimately fail. Many remain in the system for excessively long periods, sometimes years, and this ultimately means we are spending a significant proportion of billions of euro unnecessarily. That is the truth of it. Meanwhile, we have so many issues with infrastructure and services for the Irish people. This must be cleaned up. Financial oversight must be cleaned up. We must address this issue. I am still unclear on the processes the Department has put in place since the Comptroller and Auditor General's report was issued. We must address the fact that approximately 90% of applicants come through the North from Britain. That is a major issue. I appreciate that there are complexities and significant challenges but, equally, this is a beast we must tackle. We must get a handle on the issue of thousands of people coming here from Britain via the North. We have to get a handle on it and I think it is crucially important. We should do that ahead of potential changes in Britain. I also want to raise the fact that, as Deputy Fitzmaurice quite rightly said, there are businessmen coming around rural communities and speculating on properties. There are businessmen in County Mayo from the east, the north and all parts of Ireland coming around rural villages in souped-up cars, sports cars and Range Rovers, speculating on warehouses, closed hotels, nursing homes, etc. That is the reality and the Government has facilitated this. I have raised this on many occasions. If the Minister wanted to change this, he would remove the planning circumvention immediately. In Ballina, for example, in the former school site of St. Mary's Secondary School, the people were told it is a nursing home. There was even a sign saying that a nursing home was coming soon. Meanwhile, the planning circumvention for a section 5 was submitted. The Government is treating the people like fools. I have raised this with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and every time, they and the Government says that they basically agree and will do something on it. Meanwhile, businessmen are driving around rural communities in sports cars, convertibles and Range Rovers speculating and making millions of euro off the back of what is happening. I welcome some of the changes in relation to it but a significant body of work must be done to get a handle on this issue.

Sentiment score: -0.01