Fine Gael National Press Office Press Release

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Time for Genuine National Debate on Immigration Issues - Kenny

Chance for Ireland to avoid mistakes of others and have a system that is "... good for the Irish and good for immigrants..."

In a wide ranging speech to his Parliamentary Party and General Election candidates in Clontarf today, the Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny, T.D., said that it was time for the country to have a real national debate on immigration so that we can ensure that the mistakes made in other countries can be avoided and create a system that is good for the Irish and good for the immigrants.

"The recent, dramatic growth in the rate of immigration into Ireland is resulting in what is arguably the greatest economic and social transformation of our country since Independence.

"I believe that this transformation presents Ireland with both a huge challenge and huge opportunity. Given Ireland's history of emigration and migration, the country has a special responsibility to address the challenge of immigration.

"As a people, we understand better than most the special challenges of immigration and integrating new communities. Now is the time for a real national debate on these issues so that we can make the necessary changes to meet these new challenges. We have a chance to get this response right and to avoid the mistakes that were made elsewhere.

"I believe that immigration and multi-culturalism can be good for Ireland but the current system is not being managed well. We need a system that is good for the Irish and good for the immigrants. As of now, we have a system that is not serving the interests of either.

"Fine Gael has three priorities to make immigration work for Ireland:

Immigrants have rights and responsibilities. They should have the right to be free of discrimination and have their contribution to the country recognised, but they have the responsibility to integrate into our community, comply with our laws and respect our cultural traditions. I do not want to see a situation developing in which our immigrant population live separate lives. We have a responsibility to facilitate and encourage this integration.

Immigration must be managed in a way that keeps Ireland safe. We must ensure that Irish laws are understood by and adhered to by immigrants. We also need to send a strong message that people who want to come to this country to commit serious crime are not welcome and will be dealt with severely.

Immigration must be a force for improving, not threatening living standards. We must protect Irish jobs and the rights of those who come to work here. Companies that pay below the minimum wage should pay severe fines, and immigration levels from non-EU countries must be explicitly linked to economic conditions and the needs of the labour market.

"There are a number of areas where I believe we can act to help deliver on the promise and potential that immigration and multiculturalism offer. These include:

1. Bringing coherence to our political response to immigration by appointing a Minister of State for Immigrant Affairs who will be attached to the Department of the Taoiseach. This new ministerial role will include responsibility across all relevant government departments.

2. Revamp the allocation of language support resources so that schools with higher demands receive appropriate support. We must also undertake a national audit to find out the true extent of this problem and to establish whether other measures, such as providing additional language support outside normal school hours, are needed and what extra teaching resources are required.

3. Introduce a much more rigorous screening of those applying to come here from outside the European Union to establish if they have criminal records. We should refuse entry to those who have been involved in serious criminal activity. In addition, I believe that those who are convicted of serious offences and sentenced to five or more years imprisonment by the Irish Courts should be deported automatically after they have served their sentences.

4. Tackle the tragically high number of immigrants who are being killed or injured on our roads by:

- Addressing the loophole that allows foreign registered cars to be re-registered here for two years without checks being made for roadworthiness;
- Updating the Rules of the Road for the first time in 10 years and making it available in the necessary new languages of the new Irish, and;
- Pursue changes to EU rules so that penalty points can be effectively applied to all licence-holders irrespective of nationality.

5. Rigorously enforce severe penalties for employers who abuse their position and pay immigrants below legal rates.

6. Finally, I am of the opinion that most skills needs in the economy can be met from within the European Union, particularly in the low-skilled area. For non-EU citizens, we should introduce a Green Card system with the objective of making Ireland the destination of choice for highly skilled migrants, including those with advanced science and engineering skills and specific skills required in the economy.

"I am raising these issues now because I believe that the challenge of immigration is not being addressed by the political system. My objective is to ensure that immigration remains a positive experience for our society and our economy. To achieve this we must have the courage to debate the issue openly and honestly. This time of prosperity is the appropriate time to do so and to make the policy changes needed to deliver a coherent, coordinated system that works in the best interests of everybody living in Ireland."

ENDS

Note for editors: See full speech below

Speech by Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny TD at special meeting of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party and Dáil Candidates, Clontarf Castle, 23rd January 2007

1. Introduction
The recent, dramatic growth in the rate of immigration into Ireland is resulting in what is arguably the greatest economic and social transformation of our country since independence.

I believe that this transformation presents Ireland with both a huge challenge and huge opportunity. Given Ireland's history of emigration, the country has a special responsibility to address the challenge of immigration.

I believe that immigration can be excellent for Ireland's future. But the thing is we must get it right.

We live in a country that exported our people.... not by the boatload..... or by the planeload...... but by the generation.

We live in a country where hundreds of thousands of families lived for the postal order that put food on the table and clothes on their backs... thanks to a father and often his sons... slaving on the building sites of London and New York and San Francisco.

So, it's safe to say, that we live in a country where you'd have to have a very small mind, a very short memory and a very hard heart, not to welcome the stranger, who is trying to make a better life, a more hopeful life for themselves and their families.

As a Celtic and Christian people, we understand better than most the special challenges of immigration and integrating new communities. Now is time for a real national debate on these issues so that we can make the necessary changes to meet these new challenges. We have a chance to get this response right and to avoid the mistakes that were made elsewhere.

I believe that immigration and multi-culturalism can be good for Ireland but the current system is not being managed well. We need as system that is good for the Irish and good for the immigrants. As of now, we have a system that is not serving the interests of either.

2. Principles of Fine Gael's approach.

Fine Gael has three priorities to make immigration work for Ireland:

1. Immigrants have rights and responsibilities. They should have the right to be free of discrimination and have their contribution to the country recognised, but they have the responsibility to integrate into our community, comply with our laws and respect our cultural traditions. I do not want to see a situation developing in which our immigrant population live separate lives. We have a responsibility to facilitate and encourage this integration.
2. Immigration must be managed in a way that keeps Ireland safe. We must ensure that Irish laws are understood by and adhered to by immigrants. We also need to send a strong message that people who want to come to this country to commit serious crime are not welcome and will be dealt with severely.
3. Immigration must be a force for improving, not threatening living standards. We must protect Irish jobs and the rights of those who come to work here. Companies that pay below the minimum wage should pay severe fines, and immigration levels from non-EU countries must be explicitly linked to economic conditions and the needs of the labour market.

3. Analysis of current situation

The growth in the non-national population in recent years has been phenomenal, particularly since EU enlargement in 2004. Prior to then, much of the growth comprised of Irish emigrants returning home but since then the pattern has changed dramatically.

It now stands at over 400,000, or one tenth of the total population. In the last year alone, over 200,000 new PPS numbers were issued to foreign nationals registering to work or to access social services.

The Government's response to the challenge of immigration has been weak and fragmented. There are a whole myriad of government departments and state agencies responsible for different aspects of immigration and the asylum processes. Each of these bodies is fulfilling a role but no-one is taking overall responsibility for managing the issue. While the establishment of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) was a small step in the right direction, much more needs to be done to bring clarity and coherence to the government's approach.

4. Suggested structural changes

As a first step, I want the review of the INIS which is due in March, to be a fundamental re-appraisal of the way in which these services are organised and delivered with the objective of creating a streamlined system which will manage and oversee the entire immigration process, rather than just providing services.

The fragmented system is replicated at political level with various ministers having responsibility for different aspects of the issue. If I am elected to Government, I intend to bring coherence to the political response by appointing a Minister of State for Immigrant Affairs who will be attached to the Department of the Taoiseach. This new ministerial role will include responsibility across all relevant government departments. This Minister will lead a high level group which will manage and coordinate the government's activities that relate to immigration and ensure that its impact on public services and on the labour market is monitored continuously.

5. Specific pressures that have arisen.

I want to refer briefly to some specific areas where the rapid growth in immigration has led to pressures and to suggest some practical solutions that are consistent with Fine Gael's principles.

Rights and Responsibilities

*Education
The right to education is a basic, and one of the most empowering, civil rights. A good education for every child is the key to achieving the kind of society in which each of us lives up to our rights and responsibilities.

The growth in multiculturalism within the education system comes at a time when the system is already under enhanced pressure, with significant expansion of pupil numbers being forecast. The Department of Education's figures show that, over the next five years, we will need an extra 2,300 classrooms to deal with the increase in the numbers attending primary school of at least 58,000. Clearly foreign-national children will only be part of this number, but this does give a sense of the expansion that will be needed if the education system is to cope with future demand. It is currently estimated that there are 31,000 foreign national children in the primary school system alone.

As things stand, there are many teachers, particularly in large urban centres, whose classes include significant numbers of children with language difficulties. The current system for allocating language support teachers is not serving the interests of these children. It provides that schools with 14 non-English speaking pupils are awarded one language support and those with 28 or more receive a second but a third post can only be granted in exceptional services. These rules take no account of the reality of the new situation in which many schools have far more than 28 non-English speaking pupils. I am aware of one school in west Dublin which has over 200 non-national pupils but just two language support teachers, plus one additional, discretionary teacher. Even where adequate support is available, it is only available to each child for two years which is not enough in many cases.

This system is not serving the interests of either our immigrants or our own population and must be changed. Although the current Government has belatedly promised to recruit more language teachers, these outdated rules have not yet been changed. As a first step, the allocation of language support resources must be revamped so that schools with higher demands receive appropriate support. We must also undertake a national audit to find out the true extent of this problem and to establish whether other measures, such as providing additional language support outside normal school hours, are needed and what additional teaching resources are required.

Tackling deficiencies in adult literacy is a key challenge for the education system. Ten years ago, it was estimated that over half a million Irish adults needed help but just 35,500 people have benefited from adult literacy programmes since then. There is evidence that over a quarter of those who have undertaken these courses were from non-English speaking backgrounds in order to improve their knowledge of English. These programmes were not designed as language classes and should be targeted at people with literacy problems, rather than those with fluency problems. We need to develop dedicated English language classes for adult immigrants that are focussed on their needs.

Keeping Ireland Safe

*Crime
Yesterday we saw the latest crime figures which revealed a shocking increase in the rate of serious crime, including the highest number of murders in the history of the state.

There is no doubt that immigration is having an impact on crime rates. For example, 22% of those sent to Irish prisons in 2005 were from outside the European Union. There is also evidence that a number of foreign crime gangs are operating in Dublin, many of them behaving like "mafia" style organisations.

We need a much more rigorous screening of those applying to come here from outside the European Union to establish if they have criminal records. We should refuse entry to those who have been involved in serious criminal activity. In addition, I believe that those who are convicted of serious offences and sentenced to 5 or more years imprisonment by the Irish Courts should be deported automatically after they have served their sentences. This would send a strong message that people who want to commit serious crime are not welcome in this country and will be dealt with severely.

*Road Safety
The ongoing carnage on our roads has been a scourge on our community since long before immigration became an issue. While many positive steps are being taken by the authorities to promote road safety, more needs to be done to integrate the non-national community into this new approach.

This is important because a worryingly high number of road accidents involve non-national drivers. For example 44 of the road fatalities in 2006 were people born outside the country. Anyone who has had family members living abroad will relate to the distressing images of families arriving here to collect the bodies of their loved-ones who have lost their lives on the Irish roads.

Many of our new population have come from countries where the driving systems are very different to Ireland's. I believe that they have a responsibility to learn about and comply with our road safety regime and we have a responsibility to facilitate that and enforce compliance. There are a number of obstacles to achieving this. At a most basic level, for example, is the astounding fact that the full Rules of the Road handbook has not been updated for over 10 years and that it is yet to be made available in other languages. This basic information gap should be rectified as a mater of urgency.

I am also concerned that the current rules governing the re-registration of imported vehicles allow the owners of such vehicles to avoid re-registering them for up to two years. As a result, vehicles are not becoming part of the Irish system and their owners can avoid having their road worthiness tested. As well as exploring ways of addressing this loophole, we must ensure that the Gardai use their powers to impound vehicles that they deem to be unsafe.

One of the cornerstones in the battle to reduce road fatalities is the introduction and enforcement of the penalty points system. However, as migrants from other EU countries are not required to transfer their driving licences, penalty points cannot be applied to their licences. I was shocked recently to be informed that 20% of the penalty points which should have resulted from offences detected by the Gardaí could not be applied, in many cases because of this loophole. This is not fair to the Irish licence holders who cannot evade penalty points in this way. It also means that the deterrent effect of the penalty points system is not applying to a proportion of the driving population.

In government, I will pursue this matter with our EU partners to find a mechanism to close this loophole and ensure that penalty points can be effectively applied in a way that respects the right to free movement of our immigrant population.

Linking Immigration to Economic Conditions

*Economy / Labour market
The growth in immigration has been an essential component of Ireland's economic success. In fact, it has had a direct impact on our economic growth with the ERSI estimating that immigration added at least 3% to GNP growth over the period 1993 to 2003.

Ireland has been fortunate that the education levels of immigrants to date has been very high. For example, over half of the immigrants to this country have third level qualifications compared to just over a quarter of the native population.

The impact of immigration on the labour market must be monitored closely and there must be rigorous enforcement of the employment protection laws and serious penalties for any employers who attempt to exploit immigrant workers through low pay or unfair conditions. Pat Rabbitte was right to raise this issue and the need for vigilance.

Since EU enlargement there has been a big increase in the numbers coming here from the new member states and a big fall in the number of work permits being issued to people from non-EU countries.

Most skills needs in the economy can be met from within the European Union, particularly in the low-skilled area. I believe that we should cut back on the number of low-skilled work permits granted to non- EU citizens and use this system to make Ireland the destination of choice for highly skilled migrants. To achieve this, we should introduce a Green Card system for those with advanced science and engineering skills; people with a track record of entrepreneurial success: those with company specific skills linked with inward direct investment; and people with the specific knowledge and skills required by Irish exporters.

There are now at least 50,000 Chinese language students in Ireland, most of whom are highly educated and come from a prosperous and fast developing region of China. Rather than viewing these people as a sources of cheap labour or as a market opportunity for the language schools, we should engage closely with the large Chinese community to develop links with the fast growing economies of China and the wider Asian markets.

Conclusion
I am raising these issues now because I believe that the challenge of immigration is not being addressed by the political system. My objective is to ensure that immigration remains a positive experience for our society and our economy. To achieve this we must have the courage to debate the issue openly and honestly. This time of prosperity is the appropriate time to do so and to make the policy changes needed to deliver a coherent, coordinated system that works in the best interests of everybody living in Ireland.
ENDS