Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I agree with what he has said. I acknowledge the good work of the NGOs, our Defence Forces and the Naval Service. However, we believe more could be done. Europe has learned its lesson from the Yugoslav war. It was a neighbouring country of EU countries. We should remember what happened there with the minority religious groups. Plenty of international attention is being given to this issue but more needs to be done.

Europe reacted quickly to the creation of a Jewish state after the Second World War. We are not looking for a new state to be created for Christians or other minority groups in the Middle East. We are simply asking that they be left to go back to where they came from and continue their traditions, which have created many of the values that we have today. I thank the Minister for his response and I hope that we get more back in the future.

See this speech in context