Maith an bhean.

Ba cheart don Aire Stáit suí síos.

Do we have to go back to school?

I have written to the Business Committee about an issue I raised last week on behalf of the Rural Independent Group. We need a calm and reasoned debate on the influx of immigration into our country. I am not talking about refugees fleeing war. I am talking about the staggering figures that are there from places like Algeria. Fewer than 100 people from that country applied in 2021 and a staggering 1,318 have applied in the first ten months of this year. We need to look at this. We are not living in an echo chamber i…

It needs to be held very soon and to be respectful, as I said, not with people shouting anybody else down. Everybody is entitled to have their say in this Chamber, thanks to the Ceann Comhairle and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

They are not agreed.

Christmas can be hell for parents whose children are in State care. In the Gallery the Minister will see mothers and grandparents who have not seen their children in years. Tusla has blocked reunification every step of the way. Last week Jacinta Swan from Clarecare told the committee on children that parents describe the experience of having a child taken into care as something similar to a death in the family. The Chair of the committee, Deputy Funchion, told the meeting she has not seen a reunification of family …

The Gambling Regulation Bill, if enacted, will create significant changes in how gambling is regulated. In particular it will bring about some changes that are badly needed. It will establish a gambling regulatory authority of Ireland to ensure gambling is conducted in a fair and transparent manner. When I see regulators and regulatory authorities, I have questions. We have many of them in many areas. They have brass plates on the walls and fancy offices but they do very little regulation. This is what I fear is wh…

Tá fíorfháilte roimh Uachtarán an Choimisiúin go dtí Teach Laighean inniu. I welcome the President of the Commission and thank her for her address. Indeed, I thank Dr. von der Leyen for her acknowledgement of the benefits that Europe had to Ireland and, more importantly, the benefits that we brought and gave, and delivered to the European project. On 6 December 1922, 100 years ago, the Irish State officially came into existence. This monumental achievement was the result of a huge sacrifice by generations of our an…

Tá fíorfháilte roimh Uachtarán an Choimisiúin go dtí Teach Laighean inniu. I welcome the President of the Commission and thank her for her address. Indeed, I thank Dr. von der Leyen for her acknowledgement of the benefits that Europe had to Ireland and, more importantly, the benefits that we brought and gave, and delivered to the European project. On 6 December 1922, 100 years ago, the Irish State officially came into existence. This monumental achievement was the result of a huge sacrifice by generations of our an…

I am glad to speak on this motion. Setting up a citizens' assembly seems to be the fashionable thing to do for every issue. I do not believe in that. There is plenty of evidence available regarding drug use and abuse in our country. It is shocking and we all know it. Deputy Michael Collins mentioned O'Connell Street in Dublin, but I can go to towns and villages in my constituency and the problem is there. Nothing has been done to tackle the suppliers and the so-called gangs that are looked up to. They manipulate, u…

If the children can get in there.

A blank cheque.

It is a blank cheque.

Yesterday, I called for a debate to be held in this House on the impact of inward immigration. The Minister with responsibility for immigration, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, responded to say that we are currently providing accommodation to 64,000 people, many of whom are from Ukraine. He went on to list the 17,000 people who have come to our shores are fleeing from wars elsewhere. He listed in his response wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, from where people have come seeking international protection. Th…

As I said, it is vital that we have a debate on this. The public is asking for it and wants it.

There seems to be a "no mention" policy in force in the House and elsewhere.

Any nation that fails to plan, plans to fail and we cannot possibly plan for the needs of our citizens with no limits or no controls on inward immigration. We therefore need a serious examination here. The Taoiseach spuriously waited until the end of his three minutes to mention the 17,000 people who did not come from Ukraine and the many who have not come from war-affected countries. Migration both outward and inward has been a part of our nation’s history for generations and there is no denying that. There are ma…

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