Ireland needs to ‘slow the flow’ of migration and be ‘realistic’ on supports, says Varadkar

Ireland needs to “slow the flow” of migration and be “realistic” on the supports offered to people coming here, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

He said “migration is a good thing for Ireland” but “there’s only so many additional people that any country can manage in any given year”.

Mr Varadkar’s remarks come as the Government continues to deliberate over how to meet the needs of more than 100,000 people who have fled to Ireland due to the war in Ukraine as well as an increase in the number of asylum seekers from other countries.

There were reports of a row in Government last month over proposals to limit State-provided accommodation for Ukrainian refugees to 90 days, though senior Coalition figures have sought to play down any tensions.

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Speaking to RTÉ's The Week in Politics after Fine Gael’s special conference on Saturday, Mr Varadkar said he is “really proud” that the country has been able to welcome more than 100,000 people from Ukraine.

He said Ireland has to “make sure that what we offer in terms of accommodation, in terms of work, in terms of money is similar to what’s offered in other western European counties” and there is a need to “align with that”.

Asked whether this meant cuts to the package Ireland is offering, he replied: “We have to be realistic” and said “secondary movements” to Ireland by people who were already in other European countries should not be encouraged.

Separately, Mr Varadkar hit out at Sinn Féin at his party conference, claiming the rival party’s foreign policy “would actually turn our friends into enemies”, citing its support of “dictatorships” in Cuba and Venezuela and its stance on Israel and the conflict in Gaza.

He said it was “all the more reason for us to want to stay in Government as a party to protect all that we’ve achieved in the past 12 years and to make sure that other people can’t bring us backwards”.

On Sunday Mr Varadkar said the possibility of Sinn Féin taking the justice portfolio in a future government is “highly disturbing”.

He said: “The idea of there being a Sinn Féin justice minister or foreign affairs minister, or defence minister is repugnant to me.

“You know, there’s a lot of people talking about some of the horrific things that are happening now in the Middle East. We have in Sinn Féin a party that will not acknowledge war crimes that may have happened in this country.”

He said such crimes “still need to be investigated and those people need to be brought to justice”.

Mr Varadkar also claimed Sinn Féin has sought to reassure multinationals and foreign embassies about their policies while giving a different message to the Irish public.

Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly said this was “nonsense”. Both she and Sinn Féin’s foreign affairs spokesman Matt Carthy accused Mr Varadkar of trying to deflect from Fine Gael’s failures in housing, health, justice and defence.

Mr Carthy said there was a recruitment and retention crisis in the Garda and Defence Forces and, that communities feel less safe and the Defence Forces are unable to fully provide the service they wish due to government underinvestment. He said Sinn Féin would turn this “abysmal” record around.

On foreign policy Mr Carthy said Sinn Féin had developed long-standing international relationships with successive US administrations and on Capital Hill and “coupled with our work in the EU, Australia and further afield we are proud of our record in building support for the peace process and for Irish interests”.

About 700 Fine Gael members gathered in Maynooth for the special conference on Saturday which had an “emphasis on delivering for rural Ireland” and strengthening the party organisation.

This included a debate on how the party selects its leader, presidential candidates and approves programmes for government though any decisions on potential changes to its electoral college systems can only be made at a full ardfheis.