LAST UPDATE | 24 Jul

SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has defended her party’s new migration policy and said “I’m not the minister” when probed on details of how it would be resourced.

In an interview on RTÉ Radio, McDonald refuted the suggestion that her party’s policy document on reforming the international protection system was similar to the government’s approach.

She also rejected the suggestion that consultation with communities about planned accommodation for asylum seekers was already taking place.

Asked about the cost of their pledge to triple staff numbers at the International Protection Office, from 400 to 1,000, McDonald said the cost was “not enormous”.

“There is a costing for it, I don’t have it to hand, it is not enormous.”

When presenter Philip Boucher Hayes asked how “a thousand new civil servants is not an enormous cost”, McDonald replied:

“Are you actually interested in hearing the policy or simply nit-picking with me?”

The Sinn Féin leader said that the government has proposed increasing capacity to process asylum applications but this was being done “far too slowly”.

Asked whether the party’s policy to move away from a reliance on the private sector to provide accommodation for asylum seekers was similar to the government’s stance, McDonald said their actions had not matched their words.

“First of all, I have to say your tone with me in this interview is extremely rude. But be that as it may, the government may claim that this is their approach. It is something that they have failed to do.

“This was signposted five years ago by Catherine Day and they still haven’t done it.

“I’m less interested – and I would have thought that as a journalist and a broadcaster, you would be far more inquisitive – around what the government is saying which you’re very happy to repeat ad nauseam, but actually what the government is doing, or in this case has failed to do.”

Asked about the emphasis on enforcement of deportation orders, and how the party would resource that, McDonald said: “I’m not the minister.

“This is a policy document. I lead the opposition. I’m not the minister. I’m not the responsible party in government at this point.

“We have set out, I think very clearly, a very balanced, a very clear methodology and approach and value system for dealing with this issue. Year on year, of course the resource requirement will vary and it will have to be met and that will be a matter for successive budgets.”

She added: “I will listen with interest, Philip, (to you) and to your colleagues, when you have others setting out policy proposals, a similar demand for exact costings, line by line. That’s not what policy documents and position papers do, and you really should know that.”

I look forward to @rtenews 'robust' interviewing of government ministers and representatives.

— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) July 24, 2024

The party also wants to amend the International Protection Act to allow for the partial designation of some countries as safe.

Asked to name the countries that would be deemed partially safe, McDonald said that it would not be her decision.

“It’s not for me arbitrarily to name countries. We’re proposing here a policy approach that recognises those variations, which can be in geographic,” she said.

“They can also be determined by other factors, so for example, certain territories or countries may not be safe for women or for gay people and we think it’s important that the system has the capacity and is sophisticated enough to recognise those differentials.”

The party launched a new policy on Ireland’s international protection system yesterday, which proposes carrying out an audit of public services in an area and consulting with locals before deciding where a centre to house asylum seekers should be located.

The party raised concerns about locations where food banks are under pressure and GP lists are closed, and said a deprivation index by the State-sponsored agency Pobal could be used as a determining factor for locating new centres.

In the wake of the local elections, where the party performed more poorly than it had expected, the party has admitted that it needed to be clearer on what its policies are, including on migration.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said Mary Lou McDonald’s comments today were “extraordinary” and her reaction “may be a reflection of [Sinn Féin's] immigration policy.”

“I think a lot of people see a degree of cynicism behind that document, so that probably led to a legitimate, robust interview. So I wouldn’t be blaming the interviewer,” he said. 

The Tánaiste added: “Look, we all have tough interviews, we just get on with it”. 

With reporting from Jane Matthews.