Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When I, as Tánaiste, had the honour to work with the Taoiseach, he and I reached a widely publicised agreement that Ireland would accept 4,000 migrants over a period of time in the context of people fleeing the humanitarian crisis in Syria and other areas. If he recalls, we spoke specifically about prioritising the situation of families with children in camps in countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, which are close to Syria. We spoke about the situation of unaccompanied minors who are in various different countries and at significant risk in terms of what may happen to them. We spoke also about family reunification in regard to people who would be settled here but who would have other family members - possibly spouses, children and siblings - in other jurisdictions and who would wish to join their family member who had been settled here. All of this was based on well-established practice in humanitarian aid situations.

I know the Taoiseach is genuinely concerned about this. What is the possible explanation for the number accepted and processed so far by Ireland being so poor? Was there detailed discussion at the Bratislava meeting of the obstacles involved? This is not just a matter for Ireland but, obviously, given we are discussing it here in the Irish Parliament, what are the bottlenecks in regard to Ireland taking what Irish people in communities right around the country have genuinely agreed to? While we know this is a very difficult issue in other countries, Irish people have been genuinely welcoming. We have some of the best international humanitarian relief organisations in the world, as well as many people throughout the health service who are ready to volunteer and to go to help when called on under very long-standing arrangements. Will the Taoiseach give us a rational explanation of the problem and what discussions he has had with his fellows Heads of State and Government?

There were discussions in regard to the views of some countries of the 27 around potential higher levels of military co-operation post-Brexit. As the Taoiseach of a proudly neutral country, was Deputy Kenny part of those discussions? Were those discussions just among the like-minded countries or general to all 27 member states? We know the British were not present because of the Brexit vote-----

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