Ms Barbara Nolan:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for inviting me today to address it on the Commission's response to the migration and refugee crisis. The committee will appreciate that this situation is evolving minute by minute and I will try to give it a flavour of where we are at currently, but we have a European Council meeting this evening of the Heads of State and Government and the situation may evolve even further. In fact, we hope it will evolve further following that meeting.

The sheer volume of people involved in this crisis is staggering. So far this year, the UNHCR estimates that almost half a million refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea and that approximately 3,000 people have died en route. An average of 6,000 people are arriving every day and daily reminders of the appalling human tragedy on our doorstep are to be seen and heard on our televisions, radios and computers. It is a pretty appalling situation.

This crisis is at the top of the EU's agenda. It was the main message of President Juncker's state of the union address earlier this month, where he underscored the need for a collective effort to find solutions to this crisis. Before going further, I wish to underline that a common European policy on asylum is not a new invention. There have been many accusations made over the past month that the EU has been doing nothing on this issue and that we are only waking up to the situation. This is not true. The EU has been working since 1999 to create such a common policy and to improve the legislative framework to deal with inward migration. The committee will appreciate that this is a very sensitive issue and touches the core of member states' sensitivities and responsibilities. It is not easy to make advances, or at least to make advances quickly, in this area. I wish to put that on the record because we have for many years been working to try to forge a common policy.

In January of this year, I spoke to the committee about the European Commission's ten priorities, one of which was the completion of a European agenda on migration. This was put up there as one of President Juncker's ten priorities. I also recall that this new Commission is the first to have a dedicated Commissioner, Commissioner Avramopoulos, who deals with migration issues. That is also a first and shows that we were already, more than a year ago, thinking this issue was going to be a very important issue in the future. At that time, of course, the focus was on developing a new approach to legal migration to make the EU an attractive destination for talent and skills. It was also about improving the management of migration into the EU through greater co-operation with third countries, solidarity among our member states, and, of course, fighting human trafficking.

Following on this and building on the work already done in the area in recent years, the Commission has proposed two migration packages already this year. The first was announced in May and the second was announced earlier this month, which was at the same time President Juncker made his state of the union speech. The announcement of the agenda for migration in May took place against the backdrop of the tragedy of large numbers of people drowning in the Mediterranean. I think it is fair to say that nobody foresaw the scale of what was to come. Calls for action have grown louder and they are directed at the EU member states and the EU institutions.

The migration agenda that was announced in May sought to identify what could be done in the immediate term to address the tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean.

First, it tripled the budget for operations such as Triton, for example, in which the Irish Naval Service continues to play its part, with the LE Eithne and LE Niamhrescuing around 6,000 people to date. It put in place an emergency response system to deal with the temporary distribution of people who had arrived at the southern borders of the European Union and were in need of relocation. At the time in May, the Commission proposed the relocation of 40,000 refugees from Greece and Italy, two of the countries on the front line of the crisis. Ireland responded by committing to relocate 600 of these refugees. This proposal was finally approved last week by member states and is set to be implemented in the coming weeks.

The announcement in May also included a commitment to set up "hot spots" in so-called front line member states, where EU agencies, including the border management agency, FRONTEX, would work together to channel those claiming asylum into the asylum procedure as soon as possible and also help to co-ordinate the return of those deemed not to be in need of asylum.

Conscious of the need to improve safe and legal routes into the European Union in the immediate term, the Commission proposed a system to resettle, to meet the UNHCR target, 20,000 refugees in need of international protection. "Relocation" means moving people already in the European Union to another place. "Resettle" means moving people outside the European Union, for example, those in refugee camps in Lebanon, to a safer location in an EU member state. I just wanted to explain the difference between "relocation" and "resettlement" because the terms are used interchangeably. Ireland responded by committing to resettle 520 of these refugees. The proposal also pointed to the need for a permanent mechanism to resettle refugees. It should not be a one-off; we need a permanent mechanism.

The agenda also proposed an action plan to tackle people-smuggling. We want to tackle some of the problems we are encountering at source before they manifest on our shores. In July the Commission at the European Council meeting sought to secure agreement on these elements. However, it also sought to secure a commitment from member states to improve the European Union's migration policy in the medium and long term.

Work on many of the proposals tabled in May is under way. Many member states have stepped up to the plate, including Ireland, and made commitments to relocate refugees. What are the most recent developments? I have mentioned that on 9 September, as part of his State of the Union speech to the European Parliament, President Juncker announced a second migration package. Obviously, it was needed following a summer during which many more lives had been lost and the crisis on the European Union's borders had intensified. In this second package the Commission proposed seven key actions which could be taken by EU institutions and member states to address the crisis.

The first key action is that a new relocation mechanism be put in place, this time to relocate an additional 120,000 refugees. On top of the 40,000 on which we have agreement, this brings the total number to be relocated by the European Union to 160,000.

The second key action is that a permanent relocation mechanism be established. This would require an amendment of the so-called Dublin rules, that is, the Dublin Convention.

The third key action is that a common list of "countries of safe origin" be agreed by member states which should be binding. We are confronted by people claiming asylum, some of whom are from candidate countries for EU membership. On our list some of these countries would be considered to be safe. We have proposed a list of countries which obviously has to be agreed of countries which we think are of safe origin.

People who are claiming refugee status should be returned to those countries because they are not fleeing situations of terror, etc., as is the case for many Syrians.

The fourth key action is that a common handbook on returns should also be available to member states, including guidelines on procedures to be followed, and an EU action plan on returns should be approved. The fifth key action is the removal of as many obstacles as possible to facilitate the necessary and urgent public procurement, that is tenders, connected with the refugee crises. For example, complex public procurement rules have to be followed for housing refugees so we want to make the system lighter so that the response can be faster. That proposal has also been tabled. We also want to make the rules on supplies of services for refugees lighter so that we can respond quickly to these specific problems. We also tabled a proposal from the EU's external action service to address the root causes of the crisis. Last but not least, we also proposed the establishment of a European trust fund for Africa, with €1.8 billion in spending, to try to address some of the reasons people leave their home countries in the first place.

Where are we now? The Commission has been working hard with the member states in the Council in an effort to achieve a united approach. Last week, when justice and home affairs Ministers met in Brussels, they discussed the proposals I have outlined above at length. I assure the committee that this system is moving very rapidly. Normally EU proposals have to wind their way through the system and it can take many months before they are on the table. The last seven proposals in the package proposed by President Juncker at the beginning of September have already been tabled, in the justice council that met last week. We are working in real time and at a very fast pace, in so far as we can move, if one likes, a very big machine quickly.

On the positive side, coming out of the meeting of justice Ministers, final agreement on the May package was reached. This concerned the relocation of the 40,000 people. Much work was also done by member states to identify Common Positions on other elements of the proposals. However, agreement was not found on the relocation of the additional 120,000 people. However, last night, - and I am now coming to the latest of the latest developments - the justice Ministers met again in an extraordinary meeting. There was only one point on the agenda, which was to find agreement on the relocation of the 120,000 refugees as proposed by the Commission.

Securing unanimous agreement on these measures at Council level was always going to be an enormous challenge. The preferred option was always to have a decision by consensus, but given the emergency situation and the need to move forward, the EU Presidency, which is currently held by Luxembourg, sought a decision by qualified majority voting. The majority voted in favour of the proposal to agree to this relocation of 120,000 people. In our view, the decision taken last night is an essential building block to moving forward. We are now in a position to relocate 160,000 people. This decision on its own is not going to solve the refugee crisis and this relocation is not a silver bullet, but it is part of the comprehensive set of actions I have outlined. We must now work on the next steps to improve our common European asylum policy and to address the root causes of this crisis through foreign and development policy.

The Commission hopes that this evening's summit meeting of Heads of State and Government will move the process further and bring the EU member states together. We have a tough road ahead to ensure we fulfil our obligations. On the one hand, we have responsibility and a moral duty to ensure that those fleeing war and persecution are treated with dignity and, on the other hand, we should show solidarity with those member states which find themselves at the front line of this crisis.

We should not forget that in spite of the many differences between member states, the EU is by far the wealthiest and most stable Continent in the world and that we have the means to help.

It is very heartening that the Government is among those member states going into these Council meetings with a clear commitment to play its part. President Juncker has reminded us that winter is approaching and we need to be prepared. We count on all actors, all those who can play their part in helping to alleviate this crisis, whether they are EU institutions, member states or NGOs, to work together. It is only by doing so that we can hope to resolve this grave crisis. Thank you, Chairman.