Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The migration deal that was signed last week has been described by Oxfam as "a recipe for failure, [which] directly threatens the rights of women, men and children on the move". Médecins sans Frontières, MSF, has said that the deal "aimed to turn away even the most vulnerable people from Europe's shores". Compare and contrast the comments of Oxfam, MSF and many other NGOs with the words of Matteo Salvini, who said that progress had been made in principle on the issues of protecting the EU's external border. He said that Italy had succeeded in setting the agenda. Matteo Salvini is Italy's new interior Minister. When he took office he said he would like to organise a census of the Roma population in Italy. This census would be based on ethnicity. This is the man who said he would like to see all non-Italian Roma expelled from Italy. I suspect that this would mean an expulsion of some 100,000 people. This is the man who praised the race laws that were implemented by Mussolini.

Campaigners at the front line of assisting refugees and migrants are deeply disappointed in the results of the negotiations on migration in the EU last week. Racist barbarians such as Salvini are relatively pleased. They rub their hands and say, "Much done, more to do." The Governments of Europe, including the Taoiseach's Government, danced to their tune last week.

Let us consider the deal that was signed. There will be a stepping up of deportations and the establishment of reception centres for states that want them, which will basically turn back migrants. Consideration is to be given to the establishment of regional disembarkation platforms in north Africa. This means people would be fished out of the Mediterranean Sea and brought back to north Africa where they would be kept and prevented from getting into fortress Europe. There will be a stepping up of support for the Libyan coastguard. Let us remind ourselves that Amnesty International Ireland has said the Libyan coastguard intercepts people who are in distress at sea, transfers them to Libya where they are held in detention centres and exposed to systematic and widespread human rights violations such as arbitrary detention, torture, rape and exploitation. The system of reception centres at the borders and the disembarkation centres in north Africa would be very similar to the set-up that the US has lined up for the US-Mexico border.

Reflected in some of those decisions made in the EU last week are some of the comments of the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach is reported to have said “Some of these NGOs are doing great work, some aren’t up to much good, quite frankly.” The Taoiseach was referring to NGOs that pick up migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and attempt to bring them onshore in Europe. The Taoiseach made the very dubious claim that these NGOs are encouraging people smugglers. Contrast these comments with those the Taoiseach made about the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. Victor Orbán is a hero to Steve Bannon. He was described by the United Nations human rights chief as racist, a bully and a xenophobe, which I believe is an accurate description. The Taoiseach, however, has said that, "Victor's view is that he wants Hungary to stay Hungarian." The Taoiseach went on to say that Hungary does not need migrants. What kind of a statement is this to come from the Taoiseach?

Recently in the Dáil the Taoiseach said that "We have seen how the power of the free market in Asia has lifted 1 billion people out of poverty in 20 years" and how this was the way forward in the context of migration. Leaving aside the fact that in 2016 the World Bank reported that of 766 million people worldwide who live below $1.90 per day, 33% live in south Asia, the number of people in Africa who live in poverty increases at the rate of 12 per minute under capitalism. Under the privatisation programme of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Zambia, which has the world's third largest copper reserves, has 64% of its population living below the poverty line and 80% are on less than $2 per day. Yet, we leave aside the imperial wars and interventions-----

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