Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Across Ireland and the world we have all watched political events unfolding in the US with increasing disquiet. This is particularly so with President Trump's executive order on immigration and the ensuing battle with the judiciary. This is despite the fact that citizens of the seven nations named in the order have killed no Americans in terror attacks on American soil.

The Syrian people, in particular, have been subjected to the worst kinds of violence and injustice over the last few years. As always, civilians have suffered the most with an estimated death toll of 470,000 according to the Syrian Centre for Political Research. An estimated 11.5% of the population have been killed or injured while trying to escape. The appalling humanitarian situation there makes the decision to ban all Syrian refugees from the US incomprehensible. This targeted travel ban is in breach of the US constitution and the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. This builds on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognises the rights of persons to seek asylum from persecution in other countries. Therefore this executive order is a violation of international law and an affront to human dignity.

What about the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish people living and working in the United States? These are people who may have overstayed visas, but who have jobs, families and a way of life there. They were depending on an executive order from the former President, Barack Obama, deferring the deportation of illegal immigrants with jobs and family ties there. As this has stalled in the US supreme court, they are now afraid to leave the US in case they are refused re-entry.

Before Donald Trump's victory the Taoiseach described his populist policies as racist and dangerous. However, the Taoiseach has been a lot more circumspect since President Trump was elected. Fianna Fáil accepts that the Taoiseach needs to visit the White House on St. Patrick's Day. Thankfully, President Trump is not going to be there forever, but our national and international day of celebrating what it means to be Irish across the world will always be there.

I am strongly of the view that the Taoisech must represent the feelings of the Irish people about these immigration policies. Our much talked of close relationship with America can only flourish with honesty and clarity on both sides. However, our own immigration policy is not one to be proud of. Under the EU's resettlement and relocation programme we committed to taking 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers. As of October 2016, some 487 programme refugees have been resettled in Ireland. That is appalling. We need to examine our own policies when we are lambasting those of another nation. We are witnessing the largest global humanitarian crisis the world has seen since the end of the Second World War, and our response will be our legacy.

To quote Confucius, "Wisdom, compassion and courage are the three universally recognised moral qualities of man". None of these qualities is demonstrated in a ban on this most vulnerable group of people. I want to offer my solidarity to all of those affected by the executive order. I hope the US judiciary will succeed in preventing its implementation.

My final quote is from Nelson Mandela who said, "Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronisingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future". We have more in common than what separates us.

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