Blaney calls for urgent taskforce on illegal migration as confidence in Garda Commissioner wanes

Donegal Fianna Fáil candidate in the European Election, Senator Niall Blaney, says confidence in the Garda Commissioner is waning in the face of the crisis caused by the growing number of illegal migrants entering the country.

Senator Blaney is also making the case for an urgent taskforce to be set up to analyse how immigrants are impacting on towns throughout the border region, midlands and the west of Ireland.

Senator Blaney said: "First of all, I want to call out those people who bring threatening and intimidatory protests to the homes of Ministers, including the Justice Minister Ms McEntee. This is wrong and must not be allowed to happen.

"The Taoiseach has to step up to set up this taskforce. There is a real migration crisis in our towns with schools full and health services being severely impacted.

"We need reliable data and one of the key jobs of the taskforce is to see how many of our towns are at saturation point and are unable to take any more migrants. It must also look at providing additional resources to towns to help them cope better with the influx.

"The Justice Minister and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris are central to tackling this issue. Right now, the Commissioner, with the backing of the Justice Minister, is at odds with the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and that's not good. It deflects from the job at hand at a time when the Commissioner and the Gardai he leads should be on the same page in dealing with this crisis. Confidence in his ability to lead the force is waning and must be addressed.

"This taskforce should also include other Government Departments including Justice, Health, Integration and Education.

"There has to be genuine joined-up commitment on an inter-governmental basis to sort out this mess. Time is not on our side and the sooner this taskforce is brought together, the sooner we might see some results.

"There is a place for legal migration and those who have arrived through approved pathways are welcome. They are contributing significantly to our public services and hospitality. We were told at the weekend that since January, Ireland has had 6,739 asylum applications and that 91% of them crossed over from Northern Ireland.

"Clearly, this is an all-Ireland issue and must involve the administration at Stormont and the PSNI. The First Minister and deputy First Minister have to be involved in any work that is done to stem the tide of illegal migration. Our new Taoiseach has to show greater interest in cross border issues as he is not a political by-stander who can wash his hands of the problem.

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