Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. We could say we should have had the debate some time ago. We have taken our time in raising it in the House. It is not before time that people have the opportunity to give their views. The most urgent thing we need to do is to demonstrate Ireland's strong support for the people of Syria and to condemn unreservedly the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by the Russian air force and Syrian army on the citizens of Aleppo. Over the past five years, there have been 17 major peace initiatives aimed at addressing the violence in Syria. The result is close to 5 million refugees, 8 million internally displaced people and 400,000 dead. Efforts to achieve a sustainable peace must continue and be redoubled and the international community must accept its share of the responsibility for the ongoing conflict. Ireland must also play our part in pushing for such a road map to peace, particularly at EU level.

If we have learned anything from Northern Ireland it is that building peace is not an easy process and requires great patience and compromise. It requires ongoing effort. Our Government, on behalf of the country, must be much more vocal. We must begin a dialogue internationally on the responsibility to protect and the role we would play in such a principle. The security of vulnerable regions of the world cannot be solely in the lap of Russia and the United States. Yet, with each new report of the atrocities occurring within Syria, and particularly the humanitarian crisis which has taken hold in Aleppo, it is clear that these are primarily academic discussions, removed from the immediate reality of the impact of this conflict on so many people's lives. If future peace initiatives continue to face the same challenges which have hindered previous attempts, the international community's response must be focused on securing the conditions necessary for an effective humanitarian response to take place. In the immediate term, the greatest contribution Ireland can make is to focus our efforts on alleviating the suffering of the civilian populations, both inside Syria and among those who have fled.

One of the greatest failings in the history of our State was our indifference to the refugee crisis that resulted from the Second World War. We cannot allow ourselves to repeat the mistakes of our past by standing by as a crisis of the same scale continues to unfold and simply say that something should be done. Every support must be given to the Irish refugee protection programme to ensure that, at a minimum, we meet our target of accepting 4,000 refugees into the State by the end of the year. There was a commitment to do it, however progress has been extremely slow. It is shameful and embarrassing that we have not delivered on the commitment. There is a ground swell of opinion in the House, expressed today. Members of the public are seeing the scenes in Aleppo and Mosul on their television screens every night and they feel helpless and disappointed that the international community has not been capable of responding adequately to the crisis. At a minimum, they expect us to deliver on the commitments we have made on taking refugees, which are minor. We should not drag our heels any longer.

It must be remembered that there are still approximately 57,000 people living in camps in Greece, many of whom are Syrians. Recent reports suggest that the number of refugees and migrants making the journey across the Aegean Sea is increasing once more due to the recent instability in Turkey. According to reports in Der Spiegel, however, there are only nine officers making decisions about the applications of 6,000 people on Lesbos. Despite the EU's announcement that it would send hundreds of asylum experts to Greece, only three dozen officials have arrived on the islands according to the Greek Government. What are we doing about this? What attempts have been made to raise this matter at European level? Why are we not more vocal on it?

In September, more refugees arrived on the Greek islands each day than migrants were deported in the entire month. In light of this, we must review the number of refugees whom we are accepting to ensure we are doing our part. There are a significant number of Syrians in Ireland. Many of them have contacted their public representatives, including Deputies. They are at their wits end concerning family members. They cannot understand why we are not taking more immediate action and doing our part to support refugees.

I remain deeply concerned about the current arrangement with Turkey, particularly in light of recent events in that region. We must work with our European partners to achieve a sustainable alternative in the processing of displaced people. We may not be able to end the Syrian conflict, but it is surely within our grasp to raise this issue at every opportunity at European level, accept our share as a developed and relatively wealthy country and provide a safe haven for the many refugees who desperately need it.

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