Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The event at Dublin Castle will of course be space-limited but it is intended to invite all officeholders and party group leaders from both the Dáil and Seanad. The Government would support a visit to Northern Ireland.

That would certainly be welcome, but we regret it is not possible on this occasion. Anyway, I am glad that the Pope will be getting out of Dublin and will be visiting the basilica at Knock and saying mass there.

I am not involved, nor is my office, in organising any delegations or deputations to meet Pope Francis. That would have to be done through the Papal Nuncio. My role will be very limited. I will be at the event in Dublin Castle to receive him and I intend to attend the mass in the Phoenix Park, which is in my constituency. I am unsure how long my meeting with the Pope will be. I am unsure whether it will be one-to-one or long or short. None of that has been worked out yet, but certainly I will use the opportunity to welcome him to Ireland on behalf of the people and I think he will be most welcome in Ireland. I will use the opportunity to raise issues of historical abuse against our citizens by church authorities. I think people would expect me to raise them at such a meeting.

We do not have a cost or budget yet either for the security or for the reinstatement of the park, but we estimate it will be in the same ballpark as Queen Elizabeth's visit. In other words, it will probably be more than €10 million and less than €20 million but that is only an estimate at this stage.

Deputy Martin mentioned the fact that some people have been applying for tickets that they do not intend to use as some sort of protest. I firmly believe that such actions, if they are happening, are wrong, petty and mean-spirited. Protest is legitimate and okay, but denying other people the opportunity to attend a mass or an event is not legitimate protest in my view and is most unfair. It should be condemned.

I was asked a question around migration. The position the Government takes is that migration is a classic example of why we need multilateralism and bodies like the European Union. No country on its own can deal with migration. Countries that act unilaterally simply pass the problems and difficulties on to the next country. We need a European approach. That involves co-operation with the source countries and transit countries to reduce the push factors. People are leaving countries because they are unsafe, because they are badly governed and because there are no economic opportunities there. Europe needs to do far more in the Middle East and Africa to bring about security, political freedom and economic opportunity so that fewer people feel forced to migrate.

Enhanced border security is important. We already have a role with Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean. Europe as a whole will need to do more to protect its seas and borders. Nation states are simply unable to do that anymore. We need to protect our external frontier.

Burden sharing is also important. We are committed to burden sharing and solidarity when it comes to the migration crisis. We are asking all the time for other European countries to demonstrate solidarity for us when it comes to Brexit. Therefore, when it comes to problems they face, such as mass migration or illegal migration, we have to assist them as well. That is why we took the decision yesterday, after a request from the Maltese Prime Minister, that we would take 25 migrants from MV Lifelineand we have agreed to do that. They will be part of the 4,000 that we have already committed to. Only approximately 2,000 of the 4,000 have so far arrived in Ireland. They have almost all come from Greece.

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