Left-wing Opposition leaders have made renewed criticisms of Tánaiste Simon Harris, claiming remarks he made about migration numbers in Ireland being too high.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns accused the Government of playing politics “straight out of the Farage playbook”, after the Tánaiste’s comments on immigrant numbers.
In the Dáil she said the Government was ratcheting up its use of inflammatory language to stoke further fear.
Pointing to the attack on the accommodation centre in Drogheda Ms Cairns said it was a violent attack “on vulnerable people which could easily have led to children being killed”.
During leaders’ questions Ms Cairns said Mr Harris spoke about migration numbers being too high just days after anti-immigrant rioting at Citywest.
“And then, after the despicable Ipas attack on Friday night, the Government moved immediately to talking about charging those in direct provision for accommodation.”
Along with this the “callous proposal to reduce accommodation entitlements for people from Ukraine to just 30 days has also just been signed off.”
Ms Cairns said there had been 30 attacks in recent years on Ipas centres or proposed accommodation centres.
She asked “where is the emergency stand-alone meeting on safety concerns for people in international protection? Where is the emergency meeting about increasing levels of violent hate in our communities? And where is the emergency meeting to discuss how to counter the dangers she’s rise being peddled by far right agitators?”
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said any flaws in the asylum system were the Government’s responsibility and that the Government was conflating “immigration with criminality”. This rhetoric “can contribute to an environment where violence can develop. And so too can irresponsible rhetoric that blames the housing crisis or the lack of public services on immigrants.”
She added “regrettably, all three largest parties in this house, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have recently issued communications that have lent into anti=migrant sentiment”.
She said it was wrong of the Tánaiste to say Ireland’s migration numbers are too high. “He implied that people facing deportation make up a significant proportion of Ireland’s inward migration. And of course, this was wrong.
“It wasn’t a slip of the tongue, though”, Fine Gael colleagues have since repeated it and the Taoiseach had backed his comments.
But replying for the Government Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers rejected the claims and told Ms Bacik and Ms Cairns “you’re conflating lots of different things, unfairly and inappropriately”.
Mr Chambers said everyone in Government condemned the attack and that many migrants made a huge contribution to Irish society. He added that “we should be able to assess overall migration policy continuously and evaluate it, to look at European norms”.
He said Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan “is doing everything in his engagement with colleagues across the European Union to look at the wider incentives and disincentives and the push and the pull factors that’s a normal part of migration policy across Europe”.
He said they needed an honest evaluation of that “so we’re able to respond to the overall numbers that are coming into our country.
He said “we need to have an honest debate about that, and I’m clear in my absolute condemnation of what’s happened”.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday Mr Harris said he “absolutely” stood over his comments which have drawn criticism over the last week.
Speaking to reporters in advance of a Cabinet meeting Mr Harris said: “The Irish people want to know that their Government is putting in place a system [for immigration] that is fair and firm.”
He said: “There are parts of our public services that would fall over were it not for people coming to our country and contributing.”
But he added: “You know what is also a good thing?… having a system that has rules that are applied, making sure that there’s a common sense and a social cohesion element to all of that.”
[ Forty-five adults and seven children deported from Ireland to GeorgiaOpens in new window ]
The Fine Gael leader said there was “a limit” to what Ireland could do for immigrants.
Simon Harris said that recent data from the Economic and Social Research Institute shows that the population was growing “way faster than baseline projections” and he said this has an impact on public services and housing.
“The conversation about migration isn’t just about international protection, it’s about our population growth in general,” he said.
“Roughly speaking, for every 10,000 [who] people come into our country, around 3,000 more homes are needed.
“So let’s actually have a rational, calm informed debate that doesn’t seek to label people, shout them down, box them into certain positions.”
On Tuesday Labour TD Ged Nash accused Mr Harris of “irresponsible comments” last week and claimed they were “clearly a response to the disappointing, as he would see, performance of Fine Gael in the [presidential] election”.
Former minister for integration, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said “the characterisation that the Tánaiste used last week was deeply unhelpful”.