Councillors pass motion criticising Tánaiste for “dangerous” comments on migration

Dublin City Council members have criticised Tánsaiste Simon Harris for his unproven comments which link immigration figures with the homeless crisis.

In an interview with the Irish Times, published in late December, the Tánaiste claimed, without providing any empirical evidence, that a large number of people in Ireland’s homeless services were people who had no right to be in Ireland to begin with.

The Tánaiste asserted that “a significant number” of people in emergency accommodation “do not have housing rights”, without citing exact numbers or offering proof of his claims.

Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty told this week’s meeting of Dublin City Council that the Tánaiste “has never met a problem that he won’t blame on someone else, and now he’s pointing the finger at migrants.”

The South-West Inner City councillor called Harris’ comments “disgraceful” and said that the comments were an attempt to shift blame from the government’s inability to get a grip on the housing crisis.

Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan called Harris’ comments “dangerous” and “can lead to the cost of lives.”

“Every single report that has been presented to Dublin City Council clearly points to the crisis in housing caused by private landlords evicting people into homelessness.”

The Sinn Féin group leader on Dublin City Council implied that reports on homelessness were not being read by all councillors, saying “the statistics have to be shared, some councillors need to read and believe them.”

Green councillor Janet Horner said that high-profile figures such as Harris putting out “misleading” narratives about issues like immigration is problematic.

“When they put out a false narrative, it has real and serious implications for people in highly vulnerable situations, most especially children.”

Fellow Green councillor Donna Cooney said, “facts are facts; we’ve had to spend our time as councillors counter-acting disinformation that’s leading to properties being destroyed and leading to fear.”

All but one councillor voted in agreement on the measure to condemn Harris; independent councillor Gavin Pepper spoke in favour of the motion, saying that homeless people “are not statistics, they are people.”

The Ballymun-Finglas councillor called for vacant buildings to be taken over in a bid to solve the capital’s homeless crisis. 

“Every night, people sleep rough on our streets while empty buildings sit empty. Can we not take over those buildings and provide them as free accommodation?”

Fellow independent and anti-immigrant councillor Malachy Steenson said, “for once, I agree with the Tánaiste, and for once, he’s actually telling the truth.”

Steenson, without citing statistics or offering proof of his claims, asserted that the “majority” of people in homeless accommodation were not Irish; the most recent report from the Department of Housing proves this is not true.

For Harris to be defended by an anti-immigrant councillor, who cannot even provide the right statistics in the context of a council meeting, is hardly the image the party wants to present for itself.

Social Democrats councillor Cat O’Driscoll said “having falsehoods coming from some of the leaders of this country – as well as people in this room – is deeply unfair.”

The Cabra-Glasnevin councillor said, “housing is a human right and every human deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Independent councillor Mannix Flynn said the politicians needed to be “very careful” around the immigration debate, saying “this will give rise to further attacks on vulnerable people; at the end of the day, these are human beings who are entitled to compassion, asylum and protection.”

16,996 people availed of homeless services across Ireland in November 2025, breaking the previous all-time record high of 16,766; of that figure, 12,143 of the overall national figure was in Dublin.

The spike in Ireland’s homeless figures can be directly attributed to the lifting of the no-fault eviction ban in March 2023, and Minister for Housing James Browne’s seeming mission to undermine local authorities by withholding funding for tenant-in-situ schemes.

Over the course of 2025, Dublin City Council members had to find out about major projects being cancelled or approved through media reports instead of getting the chance to vote on them.

Ireland’s local democracy has the dubious distinction of being in the bottom five in Europe, in the same company as Hungary, Moldova and Russia in terms of powers afforded to local authorities and their ability to enact change on a local level.

Motions such as the ones that criticise the Tánaiste for his remarks, despite being symbolic in nature, are the main way for Dublin City Council members to weigh in on issues of national importance.

Another motion passed by the council will see Dublin City Council write to the Department of Housing, calling for a referendum on the right to housing to be inserted into the constitution; the same measure was announced in the Greens’ manifesto in 2020, but was rejected by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael upon the formation of the coalition government in June 2020.

To the point of councillors feeling left in the dark about major council decisions, Sinn Féin councillor Micheál Mac Donncha was given a mere 10 seconds to speak about the council’s decision to leave their offices on Wood Quay.

The Donaghmede councillor said, “this is a huge decision, yet it was taken without any reference to or consultation with the democratically elected councillors of Dublin City. There are huge issues and questions.”

Mac Donncha asked, “who took this decision? Was it the whole executive or a select few managers?” and said that Dublin City Council’s behaviour is not an example of “good governance.”

The Northside councillor accused Dublin City Council management of “cruelly holding out” on the prospect of housing being provided on the Wood Quay site, but has offered no specifics.

In a December publication of the Irish edition of The Times, plans were revealed for Dublin City Council to move out of Wood Quay and into Kevin Street; councillors said they were not informed in advance about the move.

Mac Donncha’s party colleague, Daithí Doolan criticised what he calls the “drip, drip release of information to the media.”

“This could be a very positive development for Dublin. But city councillors cannot be kept in the dark on these important matters,” he said.

The motion by Labour, criticising the Tánaiste for his comments, was passed by the council.

With Lord Mayor Ray McAdam tipped to be Fine Gael’s candidate in the upcoming Dublin Central by-election, the North Inner City councillor going against his potential future boss and offering an implicit criticism of his comments makes an already interesting by-election campaign that bit more interesting.