Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It might be appropriate that we read the Amnesty report but I would also like to hear from the European Parliament directly, given it had a delegation out there last week talking to migrants. I have heard all the stories about confiscation of passports and people being crowded together in very small accommodation as they go about not just construction but other work in locations in the general region. As I said to Deputy Adams, this is an issue I will follow through on in terms of the reports I have here, including one from Amnesty International. However, as I said, I would like to see what the European Parliament delegation, made up of different parties, actually engaged with and the response they got from the migrant workers when they were out there.

Perhaps we can revisit this. It is, as I said, beyond my scope to declare the World Cup defunct and that it should move somewhere else, but there is a fundamental issue about which everybody can be concerned, which is the quality of facility and rights, and respect for those rights, for construction workers, not just in that locality but in so many others. As I said to Deputy Martin, there is a human catastrophe in Lebanon and Jordan, which is spilling into other countries. That is an issue with which global politics has to deal. Those rights of people have been trampled on and the lives of many taken away for no reason other than to hold on to territory and power. We will follow through with that and perhaps we might revisit it on a future occasion here.

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