Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to focus my comments on the question of migration and refugees in Europe because history will have a lot to say about the current period and the way we are responding to it. Sometimes when we are in the thick of it we do not recognise the dramatic and profound impact it is having on the world in a particular space and time and on world history.

The UNHCR tells us that we are facing the most serious humanitarian crisis in terms of refugees of our time. That is mainly in regard to the Syrian refugees but it also refers to Afghans, Iraqis and Iranians in the main. People are coming from Africa also. The EU report on migration lauds, to a certain extent, the deal done with Turkey and boasts that crossings from Turkey to the Greek islands have sharply decreased and have almost come to a halt.

What really bothers me about this kind of report is the sort of language they use about people who are fleeing war, famine, persecution, imprisonment, disappearance, rape, you name it - all sorts of torture, and all sorts of humanitarian reasons for tens of thousands - millions - of people to leave their own country. Nobody really wants to get out of Syria, except that they face bombs being dropped from the air loaded with oil and petrol; they face Russian soldiers destroying their towns and cities, and, increasingly, killing their children and women, and destroying families. That is why people leave. If others could, they would also leave, like the Palestinians, who have been starved and isolated in the Yarmouk camp in Damascus. There are lots of pockets of Syria that aid is not being brought to because, as we heard from a whistleblower from the United Nations who recently gave a presentation here, much of it is being diverted by the Assad regime away from where it is absolutely and fundamentally needed.

This report from the European Union lauds the progress that has been made in holding back, corralling and containing some of the most desperate people on the planet. It also refers to an action plan called the Valletta action plan. We should remind ourselves that this is all about the European Union handing over vast chunks of money. In the case of the Valletta action plan, which was agreed in Malta in late 2015, €1.8 billion as a minimum was agreed to be handed over and shared between countries such as Algeria, Burkina Faso and Sudan. The President of Sudan could not even attend the talks in Malta because there is an international arrest warrant out for him because of his human rights violations. These are the types of country that the European Union is pouring funding into. Similarly, Human Rights Watch has expressed grave concerns about new laws in Tunisia that imperil human rights and lack adequate safeguards against abuses.

Many of us have spoken at length about our concerns about the deals done with Turkey and the EU money that is being given to it to corral, contain and imprison more than 3 million refugees. That continues to be a concern, but I am afraid the EU is not concerned at all. In fact, it lauds Turkey and says that there is fast operational return of migrants, that leverages are being used in development on trade and that this is a progressive European Union model. I endorse and echo what has just been said by Deputy Coppinger. Those who think for even a minute that the EU is a progressive entity that does wonderful things on behalf of the human race - and many of them are in Britain, because Britain has not faced a bailout in the same way we did, and the imposition of directives from Europe in the same way as we, the Greeks, the Spanish and the Portuguese did - should, for God's sake, look at its attitude to migration, immigrants and, as declared by Amnesty International, the most serious humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time. The European Union is dealing with it as if refugees were bunches of animals, wild bison or something, to be corralled behind fences. It is not even delivering on the commitment made under the EU-Turkey deal. Instead, refugees in Greece are being sent back to Turkey, despite opposition by the refugees themselves and despite the fact that - as I saw with my own eyes recently on a visit to many of the refugee camps in the airport, stadiums and industrial states around Athens - the people of Greece are lauded by the refugees for their decency and their willingness to open their homes and give kindness to some of the most desperate people in the world. This is despite the fact that these are the people being most hammered by austerity, cutbacks and bailouts.

What we are witnessing is the rest of Europe beyond the boundaries of Greece - the richest part of the planet - turning its back on the poorest and most desperate parts of the world. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, could comment on this if he gets to speak on it: why in the name of God have we not even begun to fulfil even our meagre, miserable commitment to take in the 4,000 refugees we talked about taking in from Syria? We are miles behind in doing it, yet we still have at least 250,000 empty properties in this country that could adequately house the people on the waiting lists, the homeless, the people who are screaming for accommodation and those who need it coming in from elsewhere. Indeed, people in direct provision are probably being treated a little bit better than those in the camps in Turkey.

This report from the European Union only confirms my conviction, and that of most people with a heart instead of a swinging brick, that the European Union is indeed completely racist and aggressive towards migrants seeking refuge, food, shelter and safety, many of whom are children. What does that say about our European rulers, about the great Commission that the people of Britain have supposed to have turned their backs on? It says everything about the inhumanity, the cruelty, the selfishness, the greed and the very good reasons why this Union as it exists should be broken up and a different kind of Europe put together, a Europe that puts people before profit.

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