There have been further calls from across the Opposition benches for the Dáil the debate the migrant crisis.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that there are “unfortunate, vulnerable people living in a tent at the side of a canal”, which “is utterly scandalous,” and is causing “considerable unease”.
She demanded “accountability and action” from Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman and from the Government as a whole.
Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said that she would also like to see an urgent debate.
She had just come from the Grand Canal where there are “inhumane and unsustainable conditions”.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon called for an update “as a matter of urgency”.
Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath said that, now that the migrant crisis has arrived “in the leafy suburbs of Dublin 4”, barriers are being erected.
But, he claimed, when people in rural communities do the same, they are “demonised”.
Independent TD Catherine Connolly said that the Government has “left a vacuum” which “horrible, horrible” views are being allowed to fill.
The narrative that the Government is now driving, along with those “on the right”, is “dangerous, appalling and against international obligations”, she said.
“We’re utterly failing in our obligation,” she added.
Taoiseach Simon Harris responded that calls for a debate are legitimate, but condemned what he called “offensive” comments which are “untrue”, such as labeling media outlets “mouthpieces”.
“There have been many, many debates” in the House on the crisis, he added.
