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

I wish to congratulate GOAL and the United Nations Refugee Agency in the work they have done so far. I also acknowledge the crews of the LE Eithneand the LE Niamh. They have rescued over 6,300 people in the Mediterranean.

Maybe the committee should send a message of solidarity to those crews and thank them for the work they are doing.

My first experience of refugees was people fleeing the North during the Troubles. I was young at the time but that was the largest movement of a civilian population in Europe since the Second World War. We have experienced the significant movement of people in our lifetime.

It does not seem that long ago when we heard from GOAL on this issue when it was on the border with Turkey and there were difficulties going into Syria. GOAL is now working with 815,000 people in the region. It is one of the few non-governmental organisations that is actually on the ground in Syria. I have seen some figures concerning the numbers of NGO workers killed there. How much of a threat is there to NGO workers? What areas does GOAL operate in? Does it operate only in government or rebel areas or both? What is the breakdown between Irish staff and local staff? What size of an area would be affected by an indiscriminate barrel bomb dropped from a helicopter?

GOAL claims there is no humanitarian solution to the crisis. Will it agree there is also no military solution to the crisis and that, realistically, the only way forward is a political solution? States in the area have fanned the conflict but are not taking in refugees. They have armed groups with weapons, supplied resources and training, so they also have a responsibility. There has been a military response from some European states with calls to deal with those people travelling across the Mediterranean by bombing the fishing boats and so forth. However, there does not seem to be the same immediacy when it comes to saving lives.

The delegation claimed there was a poor response from politicians. Recently, there was an initiative by some Members involved with the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA, where 23 organisations were invited to a meeting on this crisis. We all accept that the public, not only in Ireland but in Europe, is way ahead on this issue and politicians are scrambling to catch up. Several points from the AWEPA meeting were the importance of information for those coming to Ireland, that it is accurate and credible and we tie in with the good will of the people. Does the delegation have any suggestions for mobilising that public support and holding on to it? The danger is that one could have a tsunami or an earthquake in another part of the world which people would concentrate on then.

There is a belief that people just want to escape a war zone and then everything will be fine. We know from GOAL’s work that 85% of Syrian refugees live below the poverty line of $3.20 per day. A colleague, recently returned from Jordan, saw the camps at first hand. Outside the camps, she saw young children basically being sold off to older men.

Is there anything the UNHCR, which runs the camps, can do about that? There were also difficulties concerning attacks on women, so perhaps Ms Magennis could outline some of the work being done about that. Winter is approaching in these camps, so what is the plan to deal with adverse weather conditions?

Lastly, there is the question of promised funding that has not been delivered. Is there a name and shame list for those who commit to funding but do not deliver? Thankfully, when Ireland gives a commitment we actually follow through on it. I am thinking of larger states in that region, but are there particular ones that stand out by giving a funding commitment and yet not following through on it?