Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the Western Balkans, yes. They have an inbuilt fear of something coming down the tracks that they cannot quite define, but they know that it is not good and they do not want to go there again. The EU is making a mistake by saying it will not facilitate there concerns.

Once one puts up the barrier and does not show a willingness to help those in distress, whatever the cause, there is a price to be paid for that. The worst images of all are those of razor wire and barbed wire barricades being presented to people fleeing for their lives. It is a sad reflection on the EU and the global community, particularly the UN, that they have failed to grasp this issue in its initial stages. It would have been quite simple, as Senator Leyden said, to set up safe havens. They have not been restored since the Balkan wars. They failed there because they were not defended. That was the only reason, but they should have been defended. That option was and still is there.

I cannot for the life of me understand why we seem to have given over the management of refugees in that war-torn area to traffickers. They are organising to horde groups of asylum seekers together before putting them on the high seas and letting them sink or swim. That included women and children. We should think carefully about the kind of abuses that some of those unfortunate people are running from.

It is easy for us to say throughout the length and breadth of Europe: "This is terrible. We can't have hordes of people coming from different areas like that - coming to invade us by this invidious system." We are attempting to treat the symptoms of the system, but are not treating the problem.

The last point I want to make concerns what we will do from here on in. We should invoke the assistance of the UN in a meaningful way. In addition, we should recognise that there are a number of countries in the front line that have been making serious sacrifices for the past four or five years, yet they have not got the kind of recognition they deserve, or the backup support they should have.