{"id":156541,"date":"2025-11-01T05:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T05:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/156541\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T05:15:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T05:15:16","slug":"simon-harris-defends-comments-that-migration-numbers-in-ireland-are-too-high-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/156541\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Harris defends comments that migration numbers in Ireland are too high \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> has defended his earlier comments that migration numbers in Ireland are too high.<\/p>\n

Mr Harris, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs, said a discussion on migration<\/a> would help social cohesion.<\/p>\n

He said that migration \u201cis a good thing\u201d for Ireland and that the violent disorder in west Dublin<\/a> in recent weeks was \u201cthuggery and the racism\u201d that he \u201cdeplores with every bone in my body\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Custume Barracks in Athlone on Friday, Mr Harris said when migration is discussed people \u201cparticularly on the left try to shut down that debate\u201d and said it would be \u201cirresponsible\u201d not to discuss it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does a huge disservice to the people of this country, to social cohesion and to inform the policy discussion in Ireland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMigration is a legitimate public policy point of consideration in our country and across the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the fact that 80 per cent of asylum applications are rejected in Ireland was what led him to believe migration numbers are too high, and said that fact \u201cshould raise a red flag for Government\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also said that general migration figures, separate from asylum applications, are also \u201ctoo high\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore broadly, are migration numbers too high outside of international protection? I think they are as well. I think they\u2019re separate discussions, but I think they are as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Ireland\u2019s population was growing \u201cat such a fast rate\u201d that members of the public wonder \u201ccan services catch up\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo mapping out, as Minister [for Enterprise Peter] Burke\u2019s department does, as to where the critical skills needs are, and providing more work permits, visas, in that space \u2013 great,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cFulfilling our international obligations under international protection \u2013 great.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if eight of the 10 people who are seeking international protection don\u2019t qualify, we have to say, what more can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was \u201ccommon sense\u201d to ask those who are in international protection and working to pay rent, and that proposals on this were \u201cvery nearly ready\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a sensible measure that if you come to this country and you have no means and you\u2019re tied to international protection, we should be fully supporting it absolutely,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you go to our country and are working, of course, you should make some sort of contribution to the cost. That is common sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I would push back with every fibre I have and any suggestion from anybody that talking about migration is doing anything other than actually helping to hold social cohesion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can continue to go around and put fingers in ears and not listen to people if we want, but we can actually do what political leaders do \u2013 engage on topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there\u2019s an absolute responsibility on politicians of the centre not to walk off the pitch and leave it to the extremes on either side of the debate.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TánaisteT\u00e1naiste Simon Harris and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> said there were \u201climits to what we can do\u201d in terms of housing continuing numbers of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Accommodation for Ukrainians set to run out in weeksOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Irish Times reported concerns<\/a> the State would \u201cexhaust\u201d its capacity to house people by the end of next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a change within Ukraine in terms of younger Ukrainians coming into the country. There were issues in Ukraine in respect of education [needs],\u201d Mr Martin said during a visit to the 750 home Longview development at Ballyvolane in Cork on Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt all relates to the war; the fact is that\u2019s been a discussion that\u2019s been ongoing with European member states and Ukraine, and hopefully that can get resolved really quickly, which would slow down that figure again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Martin said the problem was due to Russia bombarding the country\u2019s civilian infrastructure. <\/p>\n

\u201cDrone technology is becoming the big issue here, in terms of the volume of drones that Russia can now develop and rain down on Ukraine, all of Ukraine, [which] is a real worry,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s estimated that by the end of this year, Russia will be in a position to drop 1,000 drones a day which is phenomenal, a shocking statistic.\u201d \u2013 additional reporting: PA <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Taoiseach and Donohoe back T\u00e1naiste\u2019s remarks that numbers migrating to Ireland are \u2018too high\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris has defended his earlier comments that migration numbers in Ireland are too high. Mr Harris,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,553,6,19,56707,17,11,12,15,16,5765,19614,5,44,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-156541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-fine-gael","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-international-protection-accommodation-services-ipas","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-micheal-martin","23":"tag-migrant-crisis","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-simon-harris","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115472743075775889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}