Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I attended a meeting of both Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers at which this issue and how we can respond to it was discussed. It is very unusual to have such a combined meeting. A decision was made in principle to set up EUNAVFOR Med, which essentially has a number of phases to it, ranging from patrolling and rescue to trying to target and undermine some of the people trafficking gangs, which are operating and making a good deal of money out of creating human misery and putting people into very dangerous and vulnerable positions.

Anything beyond search and rescue and assistance operations will require a UN Security Council resolution and the support of state actors, such as Libya, that have an interest in this. We are quite a ways from that, though. Ireland's focus is on doing what we can do practically and working through the Departments of Justice and Equality and Foreign Affairs and Trade in terms of humanitarian assistance. If the other mission gets set up on the back of a Security Council mandate, we will have to make a decision as to whether we want to be a part of that. At the moment, though, it is not on the table.

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