Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In view of what happened over the weekend in the Mediterranean, I decided on Monday that this issue should be put on the agenda as a matter of urgency. We have seen so many people die trying to make a better life for themselves in Europe as a result of conflict in their countries of origin. We have seen an incredible smuggling industry develop out of the conflicts in many of the African countries concerned. It is built on human misery. It took the deaths of 700 or 800 people over the weekend for the European Union to realise the serious problem it has on its shores. It is sad, because we should have dealt with this much sooner.

When I was in Morocco in January representing the committee, that country's Prime Minister said that Europe should wake up to this problem. Perhaps some members of the European Union turned a blind eye to this. While we know of a large number of people who have drowned, we must suppose there are others who drowned having taken smaller boats and about whom nobody knows anything.

As a result of what happened on Monday, Mr. Donald Tusk has called a meeting for Thursday. The Taoiseach will represent the Government at it. This issue was raised yesterday in the Dáil by Deputy Gerry Adams during Leaders' Questions, and I am delighted he did so. The Taoiseach dealt with the matter in a very comprehensive and sympathetic way. As members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, we need to deal with it also, and that is why I put it on the agenda today.

The foreign affairs Ministers met on Monday last and proposed a ten-point plan to deal with the situation. While it is a challenging and difficult situation and not a straightforward one, at least it is very much at the top of the agenda. People's lives are at stake. People are making money out of human misery. The people on that boat were not only Africans. Some of them were from Bangladesh and other regions. Europe and Africa need to deal with the core of the problem and not only the refugees that come across to Europe to try to make a better life for themselves. There is not a better life for them in Europe but they are trying to escape from atrocities, human misery and conflict in their own countries.

The discussion of this issue is important for us as a committee in considering where we go from here with this issue. It would rightly deserve a full meeting but because of its urgency I brought it forward today. I open the floor for discussion on this matter and I call Deputy Brendan Smith.