Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I do not know if the Minister read theSunday Timesmagazine, because she had a busy day yesterday. However, Christina Lamb had an article in that paper about unaccompanied migrant children. Some 25,800 unaccompanied minors arrived in Italy last year, half of whom have now gone missing. Some 91% of the children on those boats coming across the Mediterranean do not have their parents with them. We now have a slave trade or trafficking problem as well as a migration one. In that context, it is welcome that we have the Dáil motion on taking in such children, but there is no legislative basis for it. In addition, it is not clear what rights such children will be granted. How will the Minister be working with other Departments to define those rights and ensure that we play our part in what is an incredible tragedy across Europe at the moment?

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