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Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has accepted her party was not speaking “loudly enough” in challenging the Government over its handling of asylum and immigration.

Speaking at the Sinn Féin think-in in Malahide, north Dublin, she declined to say whether the party would support a cap on immigration or a reduction in the number of asylum seekers.

The Sinn Féin leader said the numbers are largely dictated by needs.

The party has suffered at the ballot box in recent elections following its stance on immigration, with some accusing the party of failing to take a strong enough position on the issues.

“I think that at a point in time, our communities reflected to us that they weren’t hearing loudly enough from us in challenging the Government in their failures to manage the process of asylum seeking and the consequences of that process for the communities in which they live,” Ms McDonald said on Wednesday.

“I accepted we collectively, and I personally accepted, that that was the case, and I think since then we have been very, very clear in setting out what we believe are the parameters, the values, and the framework for making this actually work correctly.

“Certainly for the communities that we represent, at the heart of this is the question of respect, respect for communities themselves, respect for their experiences, their real-lived experiences, respect also for those who seek refuge and asylum, respect for the system, for the rules and regulations, and for their application.

“For some people it seems to be controversial to say that government and statutory agencies would listen to and communicate with communities that’s not controversial for us.

“We think that’s just a matter of basic respect, a matter of good practice, and actually an essential element in getting this right and ensuring that you protect social cohesion and the rights and the respect that’s due to everybody.”

Ms McDonald rejected an assertion that she was “agnostic” after she was pressed on whether her party would support a cap on the number of immigrants entering Ireland.

“When you talk about the numbers of people coming to Ireland, of course, that is tied in with the the labour needs within the economy, in different sectors,” Ms McDonald added.

“Over the summer, I was talking to various people in agriculture, and they were reflecting to me the real difficulty that they have in getting people to work for them.

“It’s seasonal work largely. I cite that as just one example.

“You have to be cognisant of that. You also have to be aware of the stretches and strains on public services.

“There’s a particular issue around housing in Ireland and getting accommodation.

“So any responsible government has to have, in their line of sight, all of those matters when they calculate how many permits in any particular sector might be allowed, how you manage student visas, and the whole range of other elements of that policy.

“I’m saying that is largely dictated and needs to be dictated by need.”

The Dublin TD also spoke about the proposed changes to becoming an Irish citizen, which is to go before Cabinet today.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan will bring forward plans to change the legislation that will reform the citizenship rules.

As part of those changes, people applying for Irish citizenship will have to be resident in the country for eight years, an increase from the current five.

Applicants will also have to prove English or Irish language skills, as well as being tested on Irish civics.

Ms McDonald said issues around integration into communities need to “feature strongly” in any citizenship process.

“But the Government proposal, they’ve spoken about it. I understand they’re only going to cabinet this morning, so we wanted to see what that looks like,” she said.

“I think it’s absolutely reasonable there is a pathway and standards for achieving citizenship that’s a reasonable thing.”