Dáil debates

Wednesday, 27 June 2018

Other Questions

Humanitarian Aid

11:45 am

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a symptom of a much bigger problem; that is certainly true. While the offer Ireland has made is very welcome, I would be concerned in light of the previous offer we made to take in 4,000 refugees from Italy and Greece. We have taken in less than one third of that number at this stage, approximately 1,400. It is an offer but does it actually mean anything? That is what I am getting at. I would like to see that it does actually mean something and that we will not be sitting here in two years asking if we are actually going to reach those numbers, even though they are very small. It is extremely important. Only when countries like Ireland step up to the mark and actually do something rather than just saying it can we show that fortress Europe does not exist. Then we can show other countries that everybody has to play their part. There is no doubt the Europe can handle the numbers.

We also have to look at what Europe is doing in causing the flow of migrants as well. Europe plays an active part in causing that flow through the deprivation visited upon and destruction of African countries and the Middle East. We have recently seen the destruction of Libya, which is where most of these people are coming from now.

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