Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our young guests to the Gallery. Ireland has one of the world's most open economies but it also has one of the world's most open societies. One in eight people living in this country was not born here. Many vibrant cultures and ethnic communities make valuable contributions right across the island. Membership of the European Union has widened the horizons of many people in Ireland, not least students who take part in the ERASMUS programme. Membership of the EU is not just about enjoying the benefits, however, it is also about taking shared responsibility for our part of the world and pooling our efforts into common solutions for the problems we collectively face.

We have enjoyed EU-wide solidarity for Ireland's real concerns about Brexit and we have just heard about that again. Just last week, EU Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, reiterated in this House the community solidarity and support for Ireland. However, Brexit is not the only issue being discussed at the current European Council. In fact, it is sixth on the agenda. Migration will be the first issue to be discussed by the Heads of State in Brussels. Our European partners are seeking to develop a comprehensive approach to migration, asylum seeking and control of the EU's external borders.

The issue of migration should also be of concern to us. Many lives have been lost as desperate people seek to cross the Mediterranean, some fleeing war or abuse, others simply seeking a better life as many thousands of Irish people did for generations. Politically, we need to be at the heart of the EU when it comes to a humane response to these issues. I have previously called for a Marshall plan for Europe's neighbourhood, to develop the economies in countries surrounding us in the Middle East and Africa. In the short term, that would make the hazardous migration journeys less attractive and, in the long term, it would be in our interests in terms of expanding and growing trade. Meanwhile, we need to show leadership on migration, integration and asylum right here and now in Ireland. We cannot lecture others if we do not set things right here. Too many people have had their lives put on hold for years as they struggle with the administrative barriers to full naturalisation in Ireland. Given the scale of the migration crisis, it is time to take the action we need and to take it urgently.

I have two questions for the Tánaiste. Does the Government agree that it is now time for a once-off general amnesty to take the few thousand people in direct provision off what is, by common consensus, an ineffective and inhumane system and to allow them to regularise their lives and work in Ireland? Does the Government agree that we should do what we have spent years urging the United States Government to do for the undocumented Irish, which is to regularise the situation of undocumented migrants here in Ireland?

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