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”.
In the Dáil, she said the Government is 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.
“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 have been 30 attacks in recent years on Ipas centres or proposed accommodation centres.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said any flaws in the asylum system are the Government’s responsibility. She said the Government is conflating “immigration with criminality”. This rhetoric “can contribute to an environment where violence can develop”. So too can “irresponsible rhetoric that blames the housing crisis or the lack of public services on immigrants”, she said.
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.
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 need an honest evaluation of that “so we’re able to respond to the overall numbers that are coming into our country”.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Mr Harris said he “absolutely” stood over his comments.
Speaking to reporters, 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.”
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The Fine Gael leader said there is “a limit” to what Ireland can do for immigrants.
Mr Harris said recent data from the Economic and Social Research Institute shows the population is growing “way faster than baseline projections”. This, he said, 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 people [who] 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.”
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