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

I agree with much of what the Commissioner said at the outset on bold actions, decisiveness, the need to demonstrate a capacity for joint action and the need to deliver a Europe of solidarity. Unfortunately, we have not seen that Europe of solidarity emerge. In September 2015, the EU launched a plan to resettle 160,000 refugees from Greece and Italy to other EU member states. So far, this has failed massively. At the beginning of September, just over 1,000 people left Italy and 3,493 left Greece. Countries such as Austria, Hungary and Poland have yet to relocate anyone. Ireland has talked about taking people in but its rate in this regard is less than 10%. The policy does not seem to be working. The Minister of State with responsibility for Europe came before us yesterday and we put the same questions to him. There is a problem. Does the Commissioner see a contradiction in that many of the countries that have shown this lack of solidarity are those which are involved in supplying military aid to the parties involved in the conflict in the Middle East? Every time there is a bombing or attack in Syria, Iraq or Yemen, people leave those countries and come to Europe looking for safety. Yet, the countries supplying the weaponry to the Saudis, Iraqis and Turks are all involved in that. Does the Commissioner see this as a contradiction and what can we do as Europeans to speak out against it?

In short, the system does not seem to be working. Only one unaccompanied minor has been settled thus far in Ireland out of the 400 or so to be brought in this year. We are almost in denial about this reality that the system is not working. I do not mean any disrespect to the Commissioner but his observation that things are better than they were a year ago shows he is in denial. I agree with my colleagues regarding the EU deal with Turkey. It is a scandal that the UN is not being allowed into the camps to investigate what is going on. My concern is that this deal is being used as a model for other conflicts. There are plans, for example, to send people who fled Afghanistan back there. We promised those people democratic values and so on but all they got was more conflict and war. In many of these cases, the conflicts people are fleeing were caused by Europeans, Americans and others, but we are telling them they must return to the areas from which they escaped. There is no welcome for them in other countries. The majority of Irish people would agree with me that we want to see these conflicts resolved and people welcomed instead of turned away. The system that is currently in place is not working and we must state it is broken and must be fixed. There needs to be a collective effort to see how that can be done.

Reference was made to unaccompanied minors at Calais. President Hollande spoke recently about dismantling the camp, which contains vast numbers of children. Do the witnesses have any comments in that regard?

On Gaza, the UN report predicts that the area will be uninhabitable by 2020. Recently, an aid flotilla was boarded by Israeli gunboats. People living there are unable to access food, water and electricity. Will the Commissioner comment on that situation?

High Commissioner Mogherini has talked about the launch of a humanitarian initiative for the political future of Syria. I would like to hear more about this, specifically the intention to prevent further violations of humanitarian aid. Colleagues referred to the situation in Aleppo. It is appalling what is happening there and, again, it does not seem to be on anybody's agenda. People are helpless and cannot see what may be done to help people there. It comes back to accountability once again. The recent intensification of the conflict there means more people will be travelling to Europe. How do we break that cycle and work towards peaceful resolution of conflicts? We must do things differently. I do not see the likes of the Turkish or Afghani deals as the way to solve these huge problems.