Regina Doherty

So we weren't prepared.

We were overwhelmed for the amount of people that came in such a short space of time.

Now, obviously,

We've put things in place over the last number of years so that there is less of a pressing emergency, for want of a better way of putting it.

Our overwhelmingness is in the halfpenny place in comparison to when you look at Italy, Greece, where hundreds of thousands of migrants have come to those countries and they genuinely don't have the facilities to look after them or the sustainable budgets to make sure that they can maintain them.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful.

I'm just trying to be honest.

And whilst we're trying to negotiate, and have been in the last number of years, the whole central tenet to it is not only obviously ensuring that the system is fair, it's fast, it's effective, but it's also compassionate.

And remember, at the centre of all of this is that we're talking about human beings who are most likely only trying to come to Ireland or to another European country to get themselves a better life from where they're coming from.

We can get that.

No, it is.

That's nothing to do with what I said.

No, it's not at all.

And if you don't think that the Irish system has been overwhelmed in the last number of years, I think we're living in a different country.

Let me finish.

No, no, that's not exactly what I said whatsoever.

Really briefly, Regina, really briefly.

Thank you.

The majority of people are not looking for extremes.

They want a system that protects people who are genuinely looking for protection, supports migration, but they want us to enforce rules.