Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am here and I am reassured that the Taoiseach recognises it. However, he did accuse me of being disrespectful to the Dáil in going to the United States and he did not withdraw that accusation. However, I will move on to more serious matters.

Most of my remarks will be about refugees. I have often discussed the difficulties in dealing with so many questions and such a range of subjects in such a time.

I refer to the work done by the crews of the LE Samuel Beckett, the LE Eithneand the LE Niamhwhich have rescued 8,000 people, the population of a town. It is a huge number of people. This year there have been at least 3,350 confirmed fatalities, which surpasses the entire death toll in 2014. The number of deaths off the Greek islands has surged with the advent of cold weather. Almost 500 men, women and children have died in the past three and a half weeks. The problem is that we have become fatigued by and numb to the number of deaths. We hear in passing that six children or a number of adults have drowned. The Taoiseach has referred to the millions of people fleeing from Syria and those living in horrendous conditions in refugee camps. He acknowledged there had been a drop in public confidence in EU institutions, which is important, but he then went on to say the success of these institutions had partly accounted for the numbers fleeing Syria. They are fleeing war and poverty. I am sure they would tell the Taoiseach, as would Irish people abroad, that they would rather be at home. Those whom I have heard interviewed have said this. In the past two months 250,000 human beings have made their way on foot through the Balkans into central Europe. It is one of the greatest mass movements of population in modern history on the European continent. I met Prime Minister Alex Tsipras in September and he told me about the significant difficulties his government had in facing up to the challenge, given the numbers of refugees arriving in Greece.

I offer my commendation to the Naval Service. Has the Taoiseach discussed an extension beyond December of the very worthwhile humanitarian mission? Second, has the issue of allowances for Naval Service personnel been resolved by the Government? I raised the matter at the time.

On the decrease in public confidence in EU institutions, the Slovenian Prime Minister warned that the European Union risked falling apart. The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said the European Union risked disintegrating but failed to produce a comprehensive programme. On the very day she gave that warning, Austria announced its plans to build a fence in an effort to stop the flow of refugees and it did not inform the European Commission before it made its decision. There have been rising tensions over many of these matters and how individual states have responded to them.

A big issue was made of the decision to increase co-operation with what are referred to as “third countries”, in this case Turkey. An action plan was agreed with Turkey. It seeks to provide financial support for the Turkish Government in its efforts to cope with the 2 million refugees from Syria in camps along its border. It is to stop people from making the journey to Europe. In return, EU leaders agreed to discuss visa-free travel arrangements for Turkish citizens and to resume negotiations on Turkey’s EU membership bid. All of this ignores Turkey’s deplorable human rights record, especially against the Kurds, Turkey’s role in the Syrian conflict, its illegal occupation of northern Cyprus and the recent decision of the Turkish Government to launch a military offensive against the Kurdistan Workers' Party. All of these issues must be judged in the round. In Turkey we see widespread attacks on journalists, while dozens of Kurdish media outlets have been gagged. Instead of building the peace process, in which some progress was being made until recently, the Turkish Government has put narrow political concerns first. I ask the Taoiseach to reflect on the carrot being offered to the Government of Turkey and the stick being offered to the refugees.

It strikes me this is not a morally sustainable position. As some media sources claim the agreement is stalled, can the Taoiseach shed light on this?

I am pleased the Taoiseach mentioned the question of the deteriorating situation in Palestine, to which I wish to return. The death toll in that region is rising and Israel continues to seal off neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem. When I was there recently, the local people showed me where this would develop in the future and they were right, as one can now see. I looked at a map on television the other evening and one can now see that Palestinian people are being evicted and are then being denied the right to travel in areas that are being placed under Israeli control. Moreover, there definitively is a shoot-to-kill policy on the part of the Israel Defence Forces. Some 61 Palestinians have been killed by these forces, whereas ten Israelis have been killed by Palestinians, mostly in stabbings, and the Palestinian Authority appears to be on the verge of collapse. While I was there, some older people who were long-standing community activists told me the younger people were no longer listening to them and again, unfortunately, that also has come to pass.

This Dáil passed a motion of support for the recognition of the Palestinian state on which the Government has failed to act. Were the Government to act on it, it would be a clear signal that we support, on a basis of equality, the rights of the people of Israel and the rights of the people of Palestine. I ask the Taoiseach to commit today to so doing.

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