Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Taoiseach well in the discussions. Brexit presents a serious social, economic and political threat to our island and the peace process, and I repeat an Teachta McDonald's call to defend the rights and interests of the entire island and safeguard the rights enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement and the potential of the Good Friday Agreement.

There will be other pressing issues on Thursday, particularly around migration. The EU's migration policies are inhumane and are clearly not working. They have turned large parts of the Mediterranean into a huge graveyard. In the past five years, 17,000 people, that we know of, have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Last month saw around 700 deaths, the highest death rate ever recorded in the Mediterranean. That is a challenge.

What has been the response of the European Council? It has been more extreme, far-right policies aimed at keeping people away from sanctuary in Europe, letting them drown in the Mediterranean, or pushing them back to the conflicts and oppression they are fleeing.

This approach is inhumane, counterproductive and wrong. Will Ireland, with its history of hunger, conflict and oppression, advocate for a different approach? Safe and legal avenues for family reunification and for those seeking refuge are needed.

I think there is support for such an approach across the House. It would reduce the use of illegal and dangerous smuggling routes. Supporting a corrupt failed state's coast guard in Libya to attack boats and return people to prisons and slave markets from which they are seeking to escape is not the answer. The European Union's policy of using foreign aid money to pay off autocratic regimes to imprison humans seeking to escape war, poverty and oppression is wrong on so many levels and should be called out as such.

On external relations, as at all European Council meetings, there is space to discuss specific foreign policy issues. The issue was touched on, but I call on the Taoiseach to refer to the dire situation in Yemen to try to rally support to have Saudi Arabia's illegal embargo of the country lifted. The United Nations is warning that 14 million people in Yemen are facing starvation. It is unequivocal about who is to blame and squarely lays the blame on Saudi Arabia. It is a military coalition, led by the Saudi Arabian regime, the air strikes of which have destroyed the infrastructure of the country, killed kids going to school and targeted innocent civilians. Saudi Arabia's illegally enforced blockade is also contributing to what the United Nations states could become the worst famine in the world in 100 years, but Saudi Arabia is not acting alone. It is strongly supported and armed by the United States, Britain, France and other EU member states. We need to have a different approach. A message needs to come from the European Council that this is wrong and that calls not only for an end to the embargo but also an end to the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. I echo the call made about the killing of the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in the consulate in Istanbul. A message should come from the Council in that regard.

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