Middle Ireland is “sick of” the country’s current immigration policy, according to one Independent TD, as he called on his fellow legislators to address the “elephant in the room.”
Marc MacSharry, formerly of Fianna Fáil, made the remarks in the Dáil last night during a debate on the confidence motion in Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
Much of the debate to that point had centred around the incidents of November 23rd, when a number of children and an adult female childcare worker were stabbed at a school in Dublin in broad daylight. The police’s sole suspect in that attack is a man of Algerian origin.
That night, following the attack, a riot ensued in the capitol city, resulting in police cars and buses being set on fire. This series of high profile crimes in quick succession resulted in a motion of no confidence in the Justice Minister by the opposition.
Speaking on the matter, MacSharry condemned the knife attack, as well as the “wanton violence and thuggery” of the riots, saying that “there is no excuse for” and that such scenes have “no place in our society.”
However, he called on politicians to “make the urgent adjustments that the people now require,” adding that “the working people of Ireland in the centre” wanted to see policy changes on “justice and immigration.”
He went on to say that while he is “in favour of immigration” and “worked abroad” himself, “we must do everything we can in line with our capacity.” The deputy said that the public was becoming sick of Ireland’s “outlier” approach to immigration.
“Sadly, despite being advised by me and many others in this House, we persisted in this House developing a very unique, bespoke and outlier approach, particularly since the war in the Ukraine, that Middle Ireland is sick of,” he said in exasperated tones, adding: “People fleeing the war in Ukraine will get €220 a week. If I’m fleeing the war in Syria, I get €38 a week.”
He said that in Government departments’ scramble to acquire accommodation for various social projects, they had ended up “in direct competition” with one another, “exacerbating” the country’s long-standing housing issues.
“The Department of Integration, in direct competition with [Housing] Minister O’Brien, has in effect contributed and driven the price of rent up 12%, making multimillionaires out of anyone with a bed to offer,” he said.
“That is exacerbating our housing problems.”
He went on to criticise his parliamentary colleagues for labelling him a “racist” in months prior for pointing out “the elephant in the room.”
“When there’s an elephant in the room, mention it,” he said.
“I’ve been called a racist for mentioning it at every opportunity over the last year and a half.
“Colleagues, all of us need to welcome what we can, but wake up to the fact that there is no centralised European approach to this. We are doing much more than many other countries, and the people in middle Ireland want to see us stand up.”