Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

No one wants to see these people drown, but we do not want them to return to Libya either to be punished or killed. Operation Sophia does involve returning these people to Libya. The EU is boasting about the fact that the numbers crossing the Mediterranean are shrinking. The Minister said that Operation Sophia can bring these migrants to Italy. That is true, but unfortunately huge numbers of migrants are being returned. Why did Médecins Sans Frontière stop working on Operation Sophia? It has washed its hands of it because of what is happening. It is ashamed.

The Minister said that this is a UN mandated mission. He is correct, but shame on the UN for mandating this. This is not what should be happening. Europe is putting its energies into building barriers to prevent people from coming in. We have caused the destruction and supported bombing campaigns by the Americans and others. Over 60 million people have been displaced worldwide. Only a fraction of these get to mainland Europe. We are now preventing them from crossing, sending them back to Libya, and we think we are doing good work.

It is horrific.

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