Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the fact that at this stage of the meeting, there is probably going to be a certain amount of overlap but I want to ask about the migration issue which is exercising all of us now. It took Europe a while to wake up to the migration issue, the wave of people coming from Syria, the deaths in the Mediterranean Sea and so on. Eventually, though a consensus has not been reached, there was at least some kind of a programme with increased emphasis on periphery border control and dealing with the problems where they arise, be that in Syria, sub-Saharan Africa or Libya. There is also an increased emphasis on dealing with migrants in their first country of arrival, be it in the EU or elsewhere.

The Minister rightly states that the migration issue cannot be conflated with the acts of terrorism in Paris the weekend before last. He is absolutely right. One does not have to know anything about the problem because one needs only to look at his or her television screen to know that the vast majority of people risking their lives are literally running for their lives. Nevertheless, we know that there is a certain trickle of terrorists coming into Europe.

Since the Paris event, we have heard the French Prime Minister saying there will be no more migration into France. Migration is the political issue of the day in Germany. While it says it can just about cope with the 1 million or so people it received this year, it says it will not be able to cope with another 1 million people next year or the year after or the wave of people that will inevitably try to come from Africa in the years to come.

There is a growing waking up to the reality that our part of the world has become an awful lot more dangerous in recent months. That was demonstrated again yesterday with the plane that was downed over Turkey or Syria, depending on who it is one is listening to. As a result of all these rapidly happening events and the way the situation is changing, does the Minister detect a change in attitude to migration on the part of the European countries? I am talking about a hardening of attitude against migration in our part of the world, based on a fear of a destabilising effect in Europe. I stress when I ask the question that I am not talking about Ireland specifically or particularly. Our response in taking in refugees is fairly modest to say the least. We could probably take in an awful lot more. I wonder about what must be an increased concern about peace and security in the European region. I realise it is a big question and that it is early days but does the Minister sense a change in attitude since the events in Paris?