Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The Taoiseach should not consider this to be a threat when people are so desperate and insecure for their future that they put their health and lives at risk. People come here seeking refuge and compassion because they are under threat in the places from which they have come. Many Members who deal and have dealt with individual cases of people in grave difficulties and human situations have reacted compassionately.

Interference by the major powers for more than two decades has plunged Afghanistan into being one of the most violent and disturbed countries on Earth. First the Russians and then the CIA and Saudi Arabia and the rest intervened with their national interests in mind. Latterly, the CIA and Saudi Arabia called both the jihad and the horrific Taliban, which has been a major source of the instability and violence, into existence.

Does the Taoiseach not agree it is a gross misrepresentation of the truth to portray or attempt to portray Afghanistan as a peaceful and democratic society? Does he not agree it is one of the most disturbed and violent places on Earth? Some of the Afghans who seek refuge here carry healed wounds from that conflict, unlike our Irish compatriots in the United States.

I noticed the Taoiseach did not refer to my equation of their seeking humanity and compassion in Ireland with the position of the tens of thousands of our fellow countrymen and women. Can he not see that in many ways, it is a similar situation? Irish representatives, both here and in the United States, who call for compassion on the part of the United States Government do no more than do Members in respect of these people and others who seek refuge. Will the Taoiseach to speak to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform? On the grounds of compassion, humanity and the humanity of the people, as well as the respect for human rights cherished by the people, I ask that these people be allowed the refuge they need to have some future in society.

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