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

I have stated in both responses that it is not EU policy to return migrants and refugees who are rescued in the Mediterranean to Libya now and I ask the Deputy to stop stating that it is. We do not control the Libyan coastguard. The Libyan Government is now, for obvious reasons, under some threat of violence around Tripoli. The solutions that were potentially there in the past are not appropriate now because of the level of violence and the exposure and vulnerability of refugees, and the inability of the international community, whether the UN or the International Organization for Migration, IOM, to support them. This is why the main focus has to be to end the violence in and around Tripoli so that we can get back supporting what are very vulnerable communities in many of these camps.

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