Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I draw the Tánaiste's attention to the fact that in the first week in June, there was a submission to the International Criminal Court relating to the current situation calling for the EU and member states to be prosecuted for the deaths of thousands of refugees and migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to flee Libya. It is difficult to reconcile what the Tánaiste is saying with the reality that millions of euro went into the so-called rescue training of the coastguards. That training left much to be desired because they were taking people from the sea and bringing them to these detention centres. In 2018, 2,500 drowned at sea. Perhaps that was the better fate rather than ending up in one of these detention centres which is a living death. It is against international law that one would return refugees to a centre that is in the middle of a war but that is what is continuing to happen in Libya.

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