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

I absolutely stand over what the Deputy quoted. I have been quite critical of the EU in terms of our inability to be able to agree collectively an approach not just on migration generally but on the need for humanitarian assistance and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean. I know there is a concern about creating pull factors and so on. There is some legitimacy to that concern, but it is not morally acceptable for the European Union not to put resources into ensuring that people do not drown in the Mediterranean. I was Minister for Defence when we decided to send naval vessels to the Mediterranean, effectively on a humanitarian mission, working in partnership with Italy. I think our ships took about 14,000 people out of the sea. The idea that we would knowingly allow people to drown in the Mediterranean and not have an agreed capacity to respond to that in a more humane way than is currently the case is not acceptable to me, and I have said that on a number of occasions to my Foreign Affairs Council colleagues. That said, the politics of this is really difficult. I hope we will be able to make more progress on this in the context of the new Italian Government, who may, I hope, take a more supportive position on the plight of refugees.

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