Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The International Organisation for Migration claims that it has rescued thousands of refugees this year. The Minister has claimed this as well. It is not true. Rescue ends with people being in a safe place. This process is pulling people back to a place of violence and human rights violations from which they have fled. It is horrendous that Ireland would play a part in this. Recently, in an open letter to EU leaders, Dr. Joanne Liu from Médecins Sans Frontière, said that, "The detention of migrants and refugees in Libya is rotten to the core. It must be named for what it is - a thriving enterprise of kidnapping, torture and extortion". She says that, "The reduced numbers of people leaving Libyan shores has been lauded by some as a success in preventing loss of life at sea and smashing smugglers' networks". Nothing could be further from the truth. This is totally disingenuous. She continues: "At best it is pure hypocrisy, and at worst a cynical complicity in the organised business of reducing human beings to merchandise".

This is not what we were doing before. Sending people back to Libya is like sending them to their death. This is not rescuing people any more. We are sending them back to die.

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