McEntee blasts TDs for 'blatant hatred and racism' with comments on immigration

The comments were made as the Dáil debated the EU Migration Pact, which the Government plans to opt into

Justice minister Helen McEntee told the Dáil that TDs had a responsibility to be mindful of the words they use on the topic. File picture: Oireachtas webcast

Statements in the Dáil around immigration are "feeding blatant hatred and racism", the Justice Minister has said.

Helen McEntee was speaking as the Dáil debated the EU Migration Pact, which the Government plans to opt into.

Ms McEntee told the Dáil that TDs had a responsibility to be mindful of the words they use on the topic and hit out at Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath's comparison between gardaí policing anti-migrant protests and the quasi-military B Specials.

“So much of the commentary that we hear and see in this house is feeding into that hatred and that division and that blatant racism that we’re seeing right across the country,” Ms McEntee said in the debate, taken during the Private Members' time of the Rural Independent group. 

The motion accused the Government of “imposing large-scale immigration on a local population without consultation”.

Ms McEntee said that Mr McGrath's comment on Tuesday about gardaí was "not acceptable", but the Tipperary TD hit back, saying that he has supported gardaí "all my life" but that they were "heavy-handed" at a protest in Newtownmountkennedy in Wicklow last week.

Leading the debate, Laois-Offaly TD Carol Nolan said that a full conversation is needed on the pact.

"On this, as on so much else, the Government is now bankrupt of whatever political capital it had to bring people with it. We need to opt out. We also need a general election to allow people the opportunity to opt out of the Government's mandate to govern. The sooner both of these happen the better."

People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith told the debate she is against the pact for different reasons and that there is "scaremongering" around the issue.

"What’s going on here is scaremongering, scaremongering that men of colour who come to this country are a danger to women and children. That is a huge, big factor in why communities say they are worried and they are frightened."

EU Migration Pact

Junior Justice Minister James Browne said that the pact contains a mechanism for Ireland to pay a contribution rather than take a certain number of refugees and the reduction in overall costs, including processing and accommodation, in comparison with the current system "would be in the region of 25% to 30%".

"That is if we opt in. If we do not opt in, it is estimated the overall costs, including processing and accommodation, in comparison with the current system would be at least 20% greater than current costs."

Mr Browne cautioned that not opting in would see Ireland become the “release valve for migration problems in the European Union”.