Left-wing Opposition politicians have made fresh criticisms of Tánaiste Simon Harris, claiming remarks he made about migration numbers in Ireland being too high were “irresponsible” and “divisive”.
On Tuesday Mr Harris said he “absolutely” stood over his comments which have drawn criticism over the last week adding: “I think it’s quite extraordinary how many people want to shut down debate.”
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. Let me be really clear: Migration is a good thing. I said that last week when I made the comments.
“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”.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon referred to Mr Harris’s comments last week and said: “When I challenged him on that… he said that we’re trying to shut down debate. We’re absolutely not trying to shut down debate.”
He argued that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have failed in relation to Ireland’s migration systems and claimed that rather than acknowledging that, they were “going into a playbook” that has been used by [UK Reform party leader] Nigel Farage and Donald Trump.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy accused Mr Harris and others in Government of the “scapegoating” of asylum seekers while Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger accused the Tánaiste of “being divisive”.
In his remarks last week Mr Harris said: “Our migration numbers are too high” and “one of the reasons I think they are so high is that there are too many people who come to this country and are told they do not have a right to be here, and it is taking too long for them to leave the country.”
Former minister for integration, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman, stopped short of agreeing that Mr Harris’s remarks were disinformation but said: “The characterisation that the Tánaiste used last week was deeply unhelpful.”
“Mixing in migration, immigration, international protection – kind of lumping it all into one category doesn’t allow us to kind of analyse this issue in any real depth.” – Additional reporting – PA