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

I welcome the ambassador and extend to him a céad míle fáilte on behalf of myself and my party, Sinn Féin. I understand he took up his post in January 2015. We were all horrified by some of the attacks mentioned here this morning, including the Westgate Mall in Nairobi and the Garissa University attacks. There were also some 140 or 150 other attacks by al-Shabaab in the country since it joined AMISOM. There was outrage, anger and frustration. Some of that anger and frustration concerned the poor security response to the attacks.

We were told the security forces were slow to react to the attack at Garissa University. There were reports the journalists reached the university before the elite army and police squads. A high ranking police official has been accused of using a police plane for a personal errand to fly his daughter and daughter-in-law from Mombasa to Nairobi, which caused the commandos to respond 12 hours after the al-Shabaab attack. I have read that nine security officials have been suspended, pending an investigation. When is the investigation expected to conclude and will it be made public?

The ambassador mentioned there were 600,000 refugees in the Dadaab refugee camps. Other figures put it at 350,000 Somali refugees. The Kenyan Government is looking at ways and means to close the camp. A target of three months has been set to close the camp because of an environmental problem and that it is being used for recruitment to terrorist organisations. How does one move that number of people and where is it proposed that they will go?

UNHCR has described the plan as abrupt and warned that it will have extreme practical humanitarian consequences. Surely sending the refugees back to Somalia puts them at risk of human rights abuses, rape, killing as well as extortion and so on, many of the abuses from which they were fleeing originally. The UN has said that if the refugees were forced to return it would be in breach of international law and it would not facilitate such a move. I believe that Kenya is a signatory to the UNHCR 1951 Refugee Convention which prohibits forcing refugees back to areas where their life or freedom is threatened. How does Mr. Richard Opembe square that circle? Many have been in the camp for years. They have fled from ongoing conflicts and famine. Will forcing the refugees to return to their homeland not be seen as a victory for al-Shabaab?

Kenya made international headlines when it passed the Marriage Act in 2014 which legalised polygamy. During the debate on the controversial Bill, female MPs stormed out angrily from the late night parliamentary session. The Bill initially allowed the first wife the right to veto the husband's choice of additional spouses but again male MPs successfully pushed to get that clause dropped. Will he comment on why the Bill was brought forward? Would he not agree that women in polygamous unions face additional barriers to realising their rights to equality, including standards of living, housing and health?

What is happening in Kenya? I was in Tanzania recently and one does not have the same problems there or in many societies that are more inclusive. It is not only that al-Shabaab invaded the country, but there is a problem in Kenya itself. That terrorist group is recruiting young people in Kenya at present. Some of those involved in the last attack were Kenyan citizens. Is part of the problem not just a security response but does the government need to build a new and a more inclusive society?

The Public Benefits Organisations Act 2013 specifically caps the foreign funding for NGOs at 15% of their total budgets. Again my understanding of what the NGOs have been doing is trying to help build civic society. If this cap is introduced, one will see thousands unemployed and this will impact on civic society building, which is of major importance for any society. Rather than dealing with the current problems the direction the Kenyan Government is taking will isolate and alienate Kenya even more. In regard to the movement of Somalis and the movement against the Muslim population, surely that will exacerbate the problem within Kenyan society and not only make conditions worse but further threaten Kenyan society.