Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With the approval of the House, it is my intention to share my time with my colleagues, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone.

The situation in Calais has become a matter of great and understandable concern. I know that many members of the public and many Deputies are genuinely motivated by a wish to try to reach out and provide assistance. It is a sad reality that today across the globe there are some 60 million migrants and refugees. Many are in even more distressing circumstances than the circumstances of those witnessed in Calais in recent days. My role as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade is to act on behalf of the people to provide as much humanitarian and development assistance as possible to respond to those in need. I will update the House on my efforts in that regard.

I will set out briefly the current state of affairs on Calais in what has been a quickly evolving situation. On a recent visit to Calais the French President, Mr. Hollande, announced the closure of the camp and the resettlement of those living there. In the days following that decision, the adult inhabitants of the camp were relocated to centres across France. As we speak the French authorities are relocating over 1,500 unaccompanied minors to centres around France.

All migrants in Calais, including unaccompanied minors, are entitled to apply for asylum in France. The decision of the French Government to close the camp has resulted in many of the residents in the camp finally agreeing to do so. It should be recalled that the basic objective and strong desire of the people in the camp in Calais, including unaccompanied minors, has been to go to the United Kingdom as an ultimate destination. The very existence of the camp stems from their efforts to travel to the United Kingdom.

France and the UK have a long history of trying to manage this situation. In 2003 they signed the Le Touquet agreement to facilitate UK border controls in France. Under EU asylum procedures and bilateral arrangements, France and the United Kingdom are working closely together to assess the needs and destinations of the remaining unaccompanied minors from the camp at Calais. The UK has already accepted over 300 unaccompanied minors from Calais. It appears that the UK will be accepting more over the coming days, in particular, those who have family members already in the United Kingdom. We understand that 60 UK Home Office officials are on the buses with them as they are relocated in France to reassure them that their applications to be accepted in the United Kingdom will still be processed in spite of their move from Calais.

President Hollande has publicly stated that the welfare of the unaccompanied minors is the priority. Today, the French Prime Minister, Mr. Valls, chaired a meeting of key French Ministers and officials to co-ordinate the response of the French Government. In a statement after the meeting, Mr. Valls confirmed that the move of the unaccompanied minors from Calais to the new centres in other parts of France is to facilitate the processing of their applications for asylum in the United Kingdom.

The impulse to reach out and help these vulnerable young people is entirely understandable and one that I sympathise with and share entirely. At this point, two EU Governments with far larger administrations and more substantial resources in place are already dealing with this situation in accordance with rules of the European Union and their bilateral arrangements. To date neither French nor British authorities have asked EU partners to intervene in any way or assist them with the situation at Calais.

Before giving the floor to the Tánaiste, I wish to recall the substantial contribution that Ireland is making in response to the migrant crisis. The Tánaiste will update the House on our commitments under to the EU relocation and resettlement programmes.

Ireland provides development and humanitarian assistance to some of the most vulnerable countries in the world. We focus our aid in particular on sub-Saharan Africa, but have scaled up our assistance for crisis situations elsewhere, especially in the Middle East. We are recognised for maintaining attention on forgotten emergencies, including those in northern Nigeria, and the Great Lakes region of Africa. The Government has allocated a total of €651 million in official development assistance for 2017. We have increased our funding for humanitarian emergencies in recent years. Last year it amounted to over €140 million in total, and, because of the dire need, funding is expected to exceed this in 2016. This funding makes a difference to millions of individual lives daily. We need to remember that essential fact. We take a people-centred approach to our development and aid funding and improving the lives of individuals is foremost in our policy planning and execution.

Ireland has provided €62 million in humanitarian assistance to Syria and the region since 2012. This is our largest ever response to a single crisis. Ireland places a priority on ensuring that our humanitarian funding reaches those who are most in need. Irish funding has been used to address the needs of those affected by the crisis by meeting their most urgent needs for food, shelter and health care, but we have also worked with our partners to ensure that the wider needs of vulnerable persons, like women and children, are fully met.

Many of those displaced by the crisis are families and children, who have specific needs. Children displaced by crises like that in Syria are often excluded from education, sometimes for many years, and this can affect the rest of their lives. Several of our humanitarian aid partners, including the Red Cross and NGO partners, are engaged in supporting and protecting displaced children and their families. We have provided funding specifically for the provision of education to children who would not otherwise have access to that funding, shelter or other needs.

In addition, through the rapid response initiative Ireland has deployed individuals within Europe and the region to assist UN agencies in addressing the particular vulnerabilities of women and children who have been displaced by the crisis. Our Naval Service continues to do superb work and has had an ongoing presence in the Mediterranean since the middle of last year. Working closely with the Italian navy, our ships have rescued over 14,000 people. We can all be very proud of this excellent work done by our brave men and women and we salute them.

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