Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak about the refugee crisis.

Returning to the previous speaker's point about language, last summer there was a debate in the media and on the Internet about whether we would use the word "migrant" or "refugee" and commentators became exercised about the issue. It is by no means the most important aspect of the crisis, but it is important. I have a real problem with the word "refugee" because it is dehumanising. It is like when we use numbers - it takes away the humanity of an individual. When we say the word "refugee", one makes associations with a person from another country, of another colour, ethnicity or creed. We do not see them as being like ourselves. They are but from a different place, from which they desperately need to get away. That is the only difference between us. Whether one says the word "migrant" or "refugee", one is creating a distance because it interferes with our ability to face this crisis properly and deal with it. It is perhaps the greatest crisis or threat to the European Union project since its foundation. It is bigger than the euro crisis and the potential threat posed by Brexit. It challenges our notion of the European Union to its core and does so every day. It undermines rapidly the principles and norms of the Union that were built over decades. That is worrying, but we should not necessarily look at it as a threat. Of course, it is a challenge, but it is one that can be managed. We need to see it as an opportunity for the European Union. It is an opportunity to improve and diversify the Union, to right some of the wrongs perpetrated in Europe in the not too recent past and to use the Union as a force for good in world affairs.

We will never properly be able to deal with the crisis unless we have an understanding of and common agreement on our shared responsibility for causing it. If we do not see it as common to all of us in terms of a shared vision of the European Union and what it means, we will not find the right tools to deal with it. People are fleeing something horrific - deprivation, poverty, violence and war-torn areas. They are coming to the shores of the European Union, if they can make it alive, to seek something better. They are, simply, seeking a future. We, in Ireland, must ask if we see ourselves as having a responsibility in that context. Of course, it is a responsibility those who are well have to those who are unwell and the strong have to the weak, but is there something more tangible than this in terms of our responsibility to our neighbours and partners in the European Union?

Maybe it is a responsibility we share due to the actions of European countries and EU member states in the Middle East. I do not mean in recent decades but going all the way back to the Sykes-Picot agreement. Do we share responsibility for their actions or do we have a responsibility for our inaction when they took action? Perhaps we do, perhaps we do not. Maybe we have a responsibility for something even greater than it, the great threat that Daesh poses to Europe, the Western world, civilised people and freedom. We have a responsibility to reach out and say to those who are fleeing that torture and torment, "Come to us, we will protect you, there is safety and freedom here and we believe in your rights as an individual and as a person". We have this responsibility a thousand times over for many reasons. We must ask whether Ireland is meeting this responsibility.

I am incredibly proud when I see the work our Naval Service in the Mediterranean Sea and the lives they are saving every day. Although our military capabilities are minuscule compared to those of other EU countries, we are deciding to devote our scarce resources in this way. This makes me proud. We are doing something great and it says we believe we have a responsibility to these people and for their lives. This responsibility does not end with taking people out of the water and bringing them to safe land. We also have a responsibility to take people in. While 4,000 people is good, it is not great. We can, and should, take in more. We should start with a figure of 10,000, and we can do it. It will pose challenges to us as a country and to the direct provision system, which is a disgrace and is indefensible and inhumane. Maybe, this challenge can be seen as an opportunity to free those who are trapped in direct provision. We have all experienced cases of people who have been stuck in the system for years. It may be an opportunity to rethink how we treat people who come to Ireland seeking help and a better life.

This crisis is going to get worse, particularly as we enter the better months of the year for weather and conditions. We must ask whether Ireland and the EU are ready for the challenge. We are not ready, despite the recent agreement. Although there have been some great acts of goodwill and charity from individuals in their own countries we, as European countries, do not fully believe we have a full responsibility to people who are fleeing and coming to our shores. There are many arguments against taking in more refugees for Ireland and other EU countries. These arguments stand up if one does not want to take in more refugees. This is the key question. Do we want to take in more refugees? Do we believe we have a role and a responsibility here? Are we going to use the benefits of winning the "country of birth lottery" to help other people or just to help ourselves? We can look after the most desperate people on earth and we can look after ourselves. We can do both, if we choose to.

It is 100 years since the Rising. I am not quite sure what it means. We like to focus on numbers. We have our country, and it is a good country. Although we have our problems, when we compare Ireland to the countries from which people are fleeing, we are much better off. We are safe and secure and we have prosperity and freedom. What is our vision for what we want to do with our freedom? Surely we have a vision that extends beyond how we want to pay for water. Surely we have a bolder vision for the country. Surely our horizons are bolder and brighter than that. We need to figure out what is our vision. We are at a very important point in Irish history. I fear our society, country and politics are breaking down in a way. Maybe in this one area at least we can find a way that in helping others we can help fix ourselves. We need to do the work. It comes back to the responsibility, if we believe we have one, as I do, and ensuring the EU sees this shared responsibility. We must use our will, from this Chamber, to try to create the will among European partners to address properly the crisis that is unfolding on European shores.

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