Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It all speaks to a massive migration phenomenon across the world that is fundamentally caused by war, authoritarian regimes and climate change. If you are a young Eritrean of years of age and are facing a life under an autocratic military leader, that is a reason to try to get out. The problem is they are smuggled out; they pay or their families pay. They have terrible journeys. They end up in a warehouse in Libya. They have to pay more money and they end up in a very desperate boat and they sink. People are dying.

The migrant story is a fairly horrific story in many cases, particularly coming from countries in Africa and the Middle East. The world has to more fundamentally deal with this level of conflict and war. It just is not sustainable from a humanitarian point of view. The powers that be on all fronts have to collectively get together to try to create a new era of stabilisation and de-escalation of conflict.