Dáil debates

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Calais Migrant Camp: Statements

 

8:40 pm

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The discussion around migrants generally has sometimes - I suppose I particularly look at some neighbouring countries - arrived at a negative, spiteful and even hateful conclusion. It occasionally arrives at the statement that, "we should look after our own first", as if these refugees were cattle, were something other than human, something other than human flesh and blood, something unworthy of mercy, help or humanity in their hour of greatest need. We must take that on directly. The truth is that they are our own. They, like us, are human flesh and blood.

What is more, as an emigrant people, who fled misery and oppression for generations, we should understand. Ba chóir go dtuigfimis cad a chiallaíonn sé gan aon todhchaí a fheiceáil inár dtír dúchais féin ach anró agus pian, agus an gá le bogadh go dtí an taobh eile den domhan.

The purpose of this debate is primarily to discuss what the Irish State can and should do to assist the unattached minors in Calais, and specifically on the need to take on 200 unaccompanied minors. In my opening, I mentioned that so often the debate can end up on a mean-spirited note. It does not have to be that way. This issue, and the action the Government takes on the issue of unaccompanied minors, can be a source of pride to the Irish people, go mbeadh sé mar ábhar bróid go léireodh an tír seo ceannaireacht os comhair an domhain. If Ireland takes up the mantle, it can send a message to the world that Ireland is willing to stand up to its humanitarian responsibilities and display compassion and solidarity with those who are fleeing the most abject misery, the most brutal violence and the most hopeless situations that we here tonight can hardly imagine. I believe the Irish people will respond.

What is being sought by campaigners here tonight, at the rally outside and in the Public Gallery is modest indeed. Two hundred children is a small number. It is an amount that could fit in this Chamber with some comfort, an amount that we are so easily capable of accommodating in this State. Ba mhaith a chlos ón Rialtas anocht go ndéanfaidh siad an méid sin.

The Government can seek all sorts of reasons, if it wants to, why it cannot do it. There is a film in the cinema at present, "I, Daniel Blake", by Ken Loach, and at the heart of the narrative is that bureaucracy is not simply an accident, bureaucracy can be part of a policy and it can often be deliberately constructed to block, obstruct and delay. The Government should not use bureaucracy to delay or frustrate an action that it knows is perfectly possible and perfectly within its grasp. References may be made to Tusla and its capacity. There is a team for separated children seeking asylum and while it dealt with 1,085 referrals in 2001, it only dealt with 97 in 2014. Tá an fios agus an cumas ann. Na rudaí atá uainn ná maoiniú agus tosaíocht. References may be made to the fact that the camp at Calais is not an official camp, when the Government knows perfectly well that Ireland has broad legal discretion and has unilaterally taken refugees from all kinds of situations in the past. Two hundred children willing to come here can be identified at the stroke of a pen - that work has been done.

I hasten to add that this cannot be the be-all and end-all of our contribution, and my party will hold this Government to its commitment to take 4,000 refugees. Our obligations go much further than these children but this is important now because it is urgent and it is an emergency. I ask the Government to take that on board and treat it with the required urgency.

The camp at Calais is being broken up - a harrowing and worrying time for those living there. They are being dispersed across France and it is widely known that this is when those children are most at risk. There are 10,000 refugee children missing across Europe, and largely from situations of transit, dispersal and forced movement of refugees such as this. We cannot allow the number to be increased through our inaction. The Government can do this with ease and can transform, and perhaps save, the lives of hundreds of children who would cherish the opportunity of a new life here more than any of us can imagine.

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