Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The backdrop to today's debate is that Europe is facing its biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War. The European Union's response to this refugee and humanitarian crisis has been shameful, inhumane, indifferent at times and just wrong. The International Organization for Migration estimates that from 1 January to 25 April of this year, some 181,476 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. That is roughly 3.4 times more than this time last year. During this short couple of months, 1,232 desperate people have died while attempting these dangerous sea crossings.

How have we responded to this tragedy? The European Union, with Ireland's full support, has established an agreement with Turkey to deport vulnerable and desperate men, women and children from the European Union to Turkey. Turkey is a country with a deplorable human rights record and a history of discriminating against minorities, yet it is deemed safe by Europe. Who is safe in Turkey today? Are human rights lawyers, the media, those who sign a petition, comedians, the Opposition safe? Certainly, the Kurds are not.

The European Union's agreement with Turkey is a capitulation to the forces of reaction in Europe. Five leading aid groups have taken an unprecedented step and are now refusing to work with Brussels on its implementation of this agreement. We are being assured that everyone will first be screened and only those who are deemed what the Union calls "irregular" will be deported back across the Aegean Sea. Human Rights Watch believes the deportations were rushed, chaotic, and violated the rights of those deported. We have also been informed that there will be no mass expulsions and that international and European law will be respected. The UN Refugee Agency has said that 13 of those deported recently had expressed a desire to seek asylum in Greece and should have granted an amnesty in that country. Sinn Féin, along with many others, welcomed the Government's agreement to relocate 4,000 refugees to Ireland. However, so far, only one family of 11 Syrians has arrived and 31 Syrians will be relocated in the coming weeks. This is completely out of kilter with the scale and urgency of this issue.

Another direct consequence of the European Union's deal with Turkey is that desperate people are now starting to attempt a perilous journey from Libya to Italy, a much more dangerous sea journey than from Turkey to Greece. The UN estimates that over 500 migrants travelling between Libya and Italy have drowned in the past month. These figures are the backdrop to today's debate.

While I welcome the commitment by the Minister, Deputy Coveney's, to send another Irish vessel on search and rescue missions in the coming weeks, I am very concerned about the increased militarisation of these missions. Reports from the G5 summit this week indicate that American warships may now join European Union vessels off the coast of Libya by this summer in a Nato-led attempt to militarily stop refugees. Therefore, we have now gone from a situation where we deported people to sending in the military. This is the agenda of some countries. Britain seems keen in that regard. Its proposed response to the refugee crisis was to blow these ships up in their harbours. Irish military vessels must play no part in using military force to push refugees back to the failed state of Libya. The Irish Government should, instead, use its voice in clear opposition to deploying military vessels against rubber dinghies overflowing with children and families seeking sanctuary and a new life in Europe.

I appeal for Ireland to pull back from this agreement. It will not work for the families that are fleeing those regions. They will continue to flee and this country should stand up and take a proud position on this issue rather than support those who are intent on taking a military solution to this crisis. This refugee crisis has been created by a military catastrophe and Europe is clearly involved in that. Turkey is involved also and is not an independent player. We need to step back from what is happening now and to give a lead on the issue.

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