Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is very well known that returning migrants to Libya is condemning them to indefinite detention in what are essentially concentration camps, torture, rape and human trafficking. The International Criminal Court began gathering evidence in May regarding the treatment of migrants in Libya and the violent attacks on them and the NGOs working to rescue them in this region involving the very people we have now aligned ourselves with - the misnamed Libyan coastguard. In the words of human rights specialist Nora Mackard, "the European Union and the German government are of course aware of the situation in Libya [...] by providing support they are also responsible and make themselves liable." This opens up at least the possibility that by participating in Operation Sophia, Ireland might find itself part of a future investigation by the International Criminal Court or somebody else into criminal breaches of international law by the Libyan coastguard. We have travelled a very long way from the founding days of our neutrality.

See this speech in context