Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegation and the witness for the presentation. Reform is very much needed in this area and previous attempts at such reform have failed. In assessing the nation states of the European Union, it seems some countries will have problems for whatever reason with this new proposal. They are Hungary, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria. It is going to be hard to get agreement on this and I have no doubt the witness is aware of that.

I have three short questions. I appreciate what the witness has said about the official definition of a crisis. I understand there were approximately 140,000 arrivals in 2019 and that figure is a decrease on previous years. Is there a reason the numbers arriving are decreasing at this point?

Reference was made to the agreements with Turkey so far but will the witness speak to those a bit more? How has the existing agreement been working and how might the process work in future under these new proposals? It seems the interaction was fraught with difficulty and problems. Has the existing agreement with Turkey worked to some extent and how might it improve under the new proposals?

Finally, reference was made to the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece. These proposals were published when it was in the news and very much on our minds. Is the witness satisfied that the new proposals, if implemented, will end overcrowded and inhumane encampments. Is he satisfied the proposals will deal with this and how, in practice, will it happen so there will be no need for these encampments on the scale we have now?