Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Howlin also made a lot of comments. I am in very strong agreement with what he said regarding Africa in particular. I have been making a very similar case at EU Council Foreign Affairs meetings. The EU relationship with Africa needs to be the big new idea in the context of the future of Europe and its external policy. We are going to witness a population growth of about an extra 1 billion people on that continent in the next 25 to 30 years. Given the strains that Africa currently faces in the context of water security, food security, climate change, conflict, migration, political challenges and regional conflicts, the only way the EU can act responsibly is to dramatically increase its levels of ambition, politically as well as financially. We should partner with Africa, rather than see it as a charity case. Real, integrated partnership is the only way these issues will be solved in a manner that avoids a dramatic crisis in the future arising from the mass movement of people.

As for the issues being discussed today, there will be a lot of debate on trying to get a collective agreement on the EU approach to migration. I hope this will involve burden-sharing across the EU in order to ensure that Italy and other Mediterranean countries are not isolated and asked to carry an unfair share of the burden because of their geographic location. I hope it will involve generosity, adherence to international law and accepted international humanitarian standards. I hope it will also bring some predictability and order to how we collectively manage migration, which is clearly something of which many electorates in Europe are frightened. These things are not easy to overcome, particularly in light of the difference of approach and perspective in the countries of the European Union.

From an Irish perspective, we need to lead by example and, today, the Taoiseach will offer a significant increase in Irish funding for an EU central fund for Africa. He will provide more detail on the immediate assistance we are giving to Malta to accept 10% of the migrants on the ship currently there. We are changing our own domestic approach towards asylum and direct provision and we are now allowing people who have been waiting for asylum decisions for nine months to work. That means thousands of people will now be able to enter the workforce and that will be good for integration and well-being, as well as in a whole range of other areas.

The Deputy made a request for a once-off general amnesty but this would probably send out the wrong signal right now. We need to bring order, management and good systems that are fair to everybody in the context of asylum applications and that is what we should focus on.

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