Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No, I am not saying that at all. The Deputy should listen to what I am saying. I have not said that.

I read in the conclusions that the meeting also dealt with immigration issues. First, I welcome the Government’s decision, made last week, to resettle 220 Syrian refugees here in 2015 and 2016, as well as the continued financial commitment to the humanitarian crisis there, which now amounts to over €28 million, which is a huge amount of money. However, I still feel we could be doing more to open our doors to refugees fleeing violence and destruction in that war-torn country. New figures released by EUROSTAT last week revealed that Ireland comes last when it comes to granting refugee status to asylum seekers, in contrast with our support for development aid and so on; there is something wrong there. While Ireland accepted just 40 Syrian refugees last year and a total of 205 refugees in general, Denmark, with a population similar to that of Ireland, accepted 3,360 refugees. Malta, which has a population of just 500,000 people, accepted 1,610 refugees. While we talk about overseas aid we are one in the worst in Europe when it comes to opening up our borders for some of the most disadvantaged. Those who are fleeing violence and conflict were down at the bottom.

Additionally we now have direct provision in place for over 14 years, which is rife with human rights violations and is morally wrong. I hope the Government will end the direct provision system and also accept more Syrian refugees in the immediate future.

Furthermore the discovery of 30 dead bodies in a boat carrying 600 people across the Mediterranean has again highlighted Europe’s failure to act in the face of an ongoing human tragedy facing those trying to enter the EU. We need to have pathways - economic pathways and so on - to open up Europe. Some 5,500 migrants arrived in Italy at the weekend alone, which is a huge figure. This is not a time to bow to right-wing lobbies or anything else. It is a time for solidarity to help migrants. Northern European countries need to help southern European countries in dealing with this issue humanely. What was the Government's position during the negotiations and discussions on this issue? Perhaps we can take that as part of the question and answer session at the end.

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