To conclude, some of that may well be considered an element of public provision as well.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the whole-of-government response has been co-ordinated by a Cabinet committee chaired by the Taoiseach. Due to the impact of the dramatic increase in applicants, matters relating to international protection are also addressed at that Cabinet committee. My engagement with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and all other Ministers with responsibilities in the Government's response to the migration pressures is within the framework of the Cabinet committee. The Cabinet …

I thank the Deputy. She has raised the issue of the need for additional support for Ballaghaderreen. We are dealing with a small but important issue in terms of access to a leisure facility service. I communicated with the Deputy on that earlier today. Where there is high pressure on health services, we look to see whether measures can be put in place that will divert some of the international protection applicants or Ukrainians from those services. This has been done in a number of locations across the country in …

Ireland has long stood by the principle in international and European law that those who need to seek refuge must be afforded the right to do so humanely, fairly and according to the rules of the international system that we strive to uphold. Recent years have seen an unprecedented combination of contributory factors — some one-off, others due to fundamental shifts in migration patterns over the longer term. Between those fleeing the war in Ukraine and the increasing numbers of people seeking international protecti…

We plan ahead to ensure-----

We plan ahead so we can ensure there will be beds available for families with children in the coming weeks and it would be grossly irresponsible for us not to do so. Deputy Cairns spoke about beds in the Ukrainian system, as if it is interchangeable with the international protection system. After 24 months, it is deeply frustrating for me to hear Deputies saying that the two systems are fully conflatable.

The Deputies know well that it is not possible to demand that somebody who has a Ukrainian accommodation contract takes international protection applicants.

It is not possible. We are actively engaging-----

The Social Democrats have 40 minutes; I have ten. I ask the Deputy to let me finish my point. We have been actively engaging with providers on the Ukrainian side seeking that they transfer to the international protection side. We have had some successes in that and will continue to do that but this notion that there are 3,000 easy beds there that we can remove-----

The Deputy implied that this was something that was easily done.

We have major challenges on the accommodation front and it is not helpful when people pretend there are easy solutions to address this. There are no easy solutions; if there were, there would not be people left unaccommodated right now. I want to thank, as I always do when we discuss migration, the many Deputies in government and opposition, both party members and Independents, who work closely with me, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien, and my Department to support the delivery of much-needed additional accomm…

There is asbestos.

There was. It was all there.

Over the course of last week, Deputy Bacik and many other Deputies in this House raised the really concerning situation in Mount Street, which is why I asked my Department to act and identify a location where people would have access to sanitation, showers, toilets, meals and services. We were able to provide those at the site in Crooksling. The earliest we were able to provide that was last Saturday and as soon as we could, we did so and moved international protection applicants there. A significant amount of misi…

My Department and all of the Government will continue to engage with the Deputy and the other Drogheda TDs about supporting the immediate needs within Drogheda of the business community and looking to support the move of other hotels back into the tourism sector. The Deputy is absolutely right about the difficulties the current approach necessitates, whether it is the use of hotel accommodation or tented accommodation. That is why next Wednesday at Cabinet we will be bringing forward the revised accommodation strat…

I begin by welcoming all present to the Chamber, particularly our guests in the Public Gallery, and wishing everyone, especially my female colleagues, a happy International Women's Day. As Minister with responsibility for gender equality, International Women's Day is significant. It is a reminder of my Department's mission of working towards a fair, equal and inclusive society where rights are respected and all people can reach their full potential. In particular, empowering women and girls is a key priority of Ire…

I thank Senators for their contributions on International Women’s Day. The flavour of our discussions are very much influenced by the fact we have two constitutional referendums taking place on Friday. Senator Keogan spoke about misquoting the existing text of the Constitution. Let us set it out at the start of this discussion. Article 41.2.1° states: In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. Article 41.…

There are not thousands of beds available. I wish there were because if there were, we would not be in a position where people are being left unaccommodated. It is an extremely serious situation right now where there are 1,100 people unaccommodated. Over the weekend, we were able to provide a very basic, emergency and short-term response to about 150 individuals over the course of the two days. That was not a sustainable housing solution, and I think everyone recognises that. My Department continues to work to try …

I begin by welcoming all present to the Chamber and wishing everyone, especially my female colleagues, a happy International Women's Day. As Minister with responsibility for gender equality, International Women's Day is significant. It is a reminder of my Department's mission of working towards a fair, equal and inclusive society where rights are respected and all people can reach their full potential. In particular, empowering women and girls is a key priority of Ireland’s domestic and foreign policy, with the ove…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions to our statements on International Women's Day. This is the fourth time I have had the opportunity to deliver the speech on behalf of the Government and to listen to Deputies. During those four years there has been criticism that not enough has been done. There is always more for every government to do. There is more for this Government to do and there will be more for the governments that follow. As this issue is focused on a number of specific areas, I have had the opp…