International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Jennifer Whitmore (SD), Wicklow

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25