I have a number of questions for the Minister of State. As he will probably be aware, representatives of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, MRCI, and the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, Nasc, appeared before the joint committee recently. They raised a few questions which I would like to put to the Minister of State. Last year, the committee made a recommendation on the regularisation of undocumented migrants. It proposed a once-off, time-bound regularisation scheme which would give undocumented migrants an opportunity to regularise their position. The committee wrote to the Minister for Justice and Equality detailing this recommendation. However, Edel McGinley of the MRCI noted in November 2016 that no response to the recommendation had been received. What is the position regarding the recommendation?

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child made a similar recommendation and has insisted that all children be recognised and entitled to the full protection and implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, irrespective of the status of their parents. The MRCI also pointed out that it has been seeking a meeting with the Minister and Minister of State and is wondering when such a meeting will take place. It is disappointed it has not heard a response from the Ministers.

Europe has received 6% of the world’s refugee population. Given that such large numbers of the refugees arriving in Europe are from war torn countries and that Europe has been eager to support wars in many of these countries, albeit not always with military support, and given the level of destruction that has occurred in the regions in question, the notion that Europe would only take 6% of the world’s refugee population is scary.

Ireland’s response to the refugee crisis is among the worst in Europe and does not cover the country in glory. Domestically, we have been slow to address the issue of undocumented persons, of whom there are between 20,000 and 26,000. I understand that more than 80% of this group are working and most are poorly paid. What is the logic for not addressing the issue of the undocumented? The number of deportations is higher than I would like it to be. Why has the Government not responded positively on this issue?

The Minister of State referred to security assessments which have hampered relocations from Italy and indicated he has engaged bilaterally with his Italian counterparts on the matter. It appears that we are engaging in more profiling than many other countries. Are we refusing to take certain nationalities, for example, Afghans, Iraqis and Kurds? Are we allowing people from those countries to come here or are we trying to confine our efforts to Syrians? As I pointed out previously, on our visit to Calais and Dunkirk, Deputy Clare Daly and I found many Afghans and Kurds in the camps. The Syrians we met in the camps were much better off financially than most of the other refugees. There is a belief that the Syrians who have reached western Europe tend to come from better-off backgrounds. I wonder if Ireland is showing favouritism towards Syrian refugees. I ask the Minister of State to respond.

Speaking of being good Europeans, the Minister of State will probably have noticed a report in October that the European Union had struck a tentative deal with Afghanistan to return an unlimited number of Afghan asylum seekers. It is reported that the number to be returned may be as high as 80,000. One might as well throw these people under a bus as return them to Afghanistan. The Afghans we met in Calais and Dunkirk will do anything before agreeing to return to Afghanistan, which they left for good reason. More often than not, they had fallen foul of either the Taliban or ISIS. Unfortunately for some of them, their families had worked with the US security forces and military and the concept of the family in Afghanistan extends a long way. The notion that Europe would send these people back to Afghanistan is beyond belief.

I heard this morning that the European Union is in talks with the Libyans. Who could the EU talk to in Libya at the moment? Europe has played a significant part in destroying that country and the notion that people would be sent back to Libya beggars belief. I ask the Minister of State to clarify whether this morning’s report is accurate.