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

Events in Texas in the US have rightly caused an outrage right across the world. We see and hear that almost 2,000 immigrant children have been separated from their parents in April and May according to the Department of Homeland Security, and there is no doubt that this zero tolerance policy from the Trump Administration will serve to increase business for human smugglers who will use the separation policy to sell their services, arguing that they can help migrants to avoid border controls and hence stay with their children.

The Irish author, Donal Ryan, is a great chronicler of our times on social issues. I recently read his last novel, From a Low and Quiet Sea, which paints in words far stronger than mine the harsh reality for people trying to escape. When they are at their most vulnerable, they are taken advantage of by smugglers. Migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to so-called tender age shelters and we have seen pictures of distraught children in cages and heard audio of them calling out in distress for their parents. Using children as political bargaining chips must be the lowest form of politics and the Trump Administration must be condemned for its actions. If President Trump does sign the order today to cease these actions, we will have to ensure the 2,000 children who were separated from their parents in April and May are reunited.

This is World Refugee Day and we need to look at our own treatment of refugees in this country. The Government has limited the opportunities for family reunion under the International Protection Act 2015. Changes introduced in this law mean that only family members in a very restricted category can apply to be reunited and only within a very tight timeframe. The International Protection (Family Reunification) Amendment Bill 2017 passed through the Seanad in 2017 and now needs to progress through the Dáil. It is in the lottery system in my name and I call on anyone who condemns the US Administration to give their full support to the Bill to allow the State to deliver on its humanitarian commitments to allow grandparents to be reunited with grandchildren, children aged over 18 years to be reunited with their parents and elder brothers and sisters to be reunited with their younger siblings. The effects of separation are devastating and the right to family life and the protection of the family are enshrined in international human rights law. These are values that cut across cultures and unite all of us, or should. We need to show America and the rest of the world that Ireland is serious about sharing responsibility for those in need of international protection.

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