Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State referred to a safe place. Operation Sophia is pulling people back to a place of violence and human rights violations. Only yesterday, authorities used rubber bullets and tear gas to force more than 90 refugees to disembark a cargo ship docked in Misrata. The stand off lasted ten days. The refugees, including children, said that they would rather die than return to indefinite detention in Libya. This is the reality of Libya and of Operation Sophia. Scores of refugees are killing themselves in the detention centres where the Irish Navy help the Libyan coastguard to keep these desperate people.

The Minister of State said that he is saving lives by interrupting smugglers but he is sending people back to violence. They would rather be killed than go back. He spoke of a UN mandate but we should not forget that the UN gave the mandate to destroy this place to begin with.

There is no sense in what is going on. We should have nothing to do with this military mission. We are crucifying people by sending them back to Libya. The Government agreed with the NATO mission which, sadly, was backed by a UN mandate.

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