A Kerry TD has criticised the lack of information being provided by the government on the backgrounds of asylum seekers and refugees entering the country.
Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said the stance being adopted on the matter by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste is “absolutely ridiculous”.
“They keep saying that the public shouldn’t be listening to misinformation about refugees and asylum seekers and yet the government is giving no information, no clarification or prior notice to communities,” he said.
“They are sharing nothing about the implementation of their immigration policy and how it will affect local people.
“They are not even giving the Garda Síochána information of what is to happen and that is not satisfactory,” Deputy Healy-Rae claimed.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted that people talking about asylum seekers being unvetted are not dealing in facts.
“Everybody who comes into the country, who claims international protection, is photographed, is fingerprinted, is checked against a watchlist.
“At least until such a time as we can process their application and decide whether they’re allowed to stay or not, they should be treated with a minimum degree of dignity and respect. That’s what we seek to do. That’s what I’d ask people to do,” he said.
The Taoiseach also described suggestions that a person has to claim asylum in the first country they arrive in as a “far-right myth”.
Meanwhile, Cllr Martin Grady said the money paid to people to provide accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees needs to be reduced as it is proving to be a very lucrative business.
He said landlords accommodating international protection applicants are receiving €110 per person per night and those housing Ukrainians receive €55 per night.
“There are protection applicants four per room squeezed into bunk beds. That’s €440 per night 365 days a year – five-star hotels are hardly getting that,” the Killarney councillor said.
He welcomed the decision to limit State accommodation for new arrivals from Ukraine to 90 days and the cut in welfare rates from €220 per week to €38.80 but, Cllr Grady argued, the proposed additional social welfare payment of €75 for those that can’t be accommodated is unfair.
“If someone living in this country all their lives presents themselves to their local social welfare office and they have no fixed abode they’re entitled to absolutely zero. This is something else that should be addressed,” he said.
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