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

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for the brave and selfless lifesaving work they carry out each day. Yesterday morning, I listened to the Italian ambassador on the radio. He spoke about the difficulty facing the Italian people due to the number of refugees coming from Libya directly to Sicily and Italy. The Italians are threatening to refuse entry to NGO charity boats to ports in Italy. Will this include the MSF boats and what will that mean for its work?

Italy is rightly angry about the EU countries' lack of solidarity and so forth. I have mentioned that at other meetings, including at yesterday's meeting of the European affairs committee when this matter arose. The Italians are saying that some of the charity boats are acting as a pull factor and some of them are going into Libyan waters and so forth. The witness says that MSF's boat is 25 miles off the coast. When these boats are seen by people on the Libyan coast, do they act as a type of beacon or attraction? How do the witnesses respond to the Italian concerns in that regard? The Italians say that the majority of the people are not coming from areas of conflict but are economic migrants. In some cases they are not co-operating with other EU countries with regard to moving forward. What should Ireland be doing about those refugees? Should we increase the number we are taking? I believe we took three from Italy last year. Clearly, the system is flawed and is not working.

Witnesses appeared before the committee earlier to discuss organ transplants. One of the doctors from Ireland spoke about the link between stealing organs and refugees. Have the witnesses encountered that in their work? The doctor said there is a clear link between people from Libya going to Egypt and then being allowed on the boats. Have the witnesses seen that?

I saw photographs of the so-called detention centres run by the Libyans, basically armed militias. The witness said there are three disputed powers, but they are effectively armed militias on the ground. Hundreds of people are crammed into overcrowded centres. What is MSF's view of the European response of sending people back to Libya?

The witness mentioned the work of the Libyan coastguard. What is its official role? Is it its role to bring people back or to stop people leaving the coast? Part of its role appears to be to rob people. Members of the coastguard are on very bad pay. Do the witnesses believe EU member states should be supporting the Libyan coast guard in any way considering its record of abuse?

With regard to the military response, there is talk that EU ships will move away from search and rescue missions to carrying out military missions. What is the witness's view on that? I recall David Cameron talking about going in to take out the traffickers, boats and so forth. How do the witnesses think that will impact on the refugees who are vulnerable?

The witness referred to a legal and safe pathway. Should that be in Libya or in some of the countries where the refugees come from?