Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It was mind-boggling to listen to a speech of the nature given to us today. It brings into focus our complete hypocrisy as a country – not that of the ordinary people - and ostensibly using our voice as a tool for peace in the world when we are doing the opposite. We had a speech which did not refer to anything concerning the situation in the borderland - the no man’s land, the no woman's land and, certainly, the no child's land - between Turkey and Greece with tear gas, guns and violence. When that debate is mentioned, it is reduced to Turkey shoving out people and Greece refusing to take them in. There is no context whatsoever as to why that might have arisen.

D'eascair sé as margadh lofa a rinneadh idir an Eoraip agus an Tuirc in 2016. Tá an margadh sin lofa amach is amach. Rinne an Eoraip iarracht ollmhór éalú as a cuid dualgas agus airgead a chur ar fáil don Tuirc chun an jab a dhéanamh seachas dul isteach leis an dúshlán.

The crisis has arisen from the utter failure of Europe to deal in a positive way with the challenge it faced in 2015 when more than 1 million people fled to Europe for various reasons. Rather than dealing with that, Europe made a rotten deal with Turkey. Europe sought to buy its way out of its obligations. We are now in a situation where Greece is refusing to comply with its international obligations to take in refugees. In a sense, I understand Greece but I do not condone its failure to comply with international legislation.

Will the Ministers in the Chamber address this issue, as well as the failure of the Taoiseach to address it, where a member of the European Union is blatantly refusing to comply with its obligations under refugee legislation? It is not the only country. We have had the unprecedented situation where Irish judges, or at least their representatives, have gone to Poland to march in solidarity such was their concern for the lack of respect shown to the democratic process there. I can mention many other countries, including Hungary and Italy. One would imagine they would have been the subject of a debate today to highlight that we are letting the far right take over. We have created a vacuum in Europe. Instead of dealing with that vacuum, we have an empty óráid from the Taoiseach in which he spoke about a conference on the future of Europe and protecting values and interests. The only thing that is being protected is fortress Europe.

We cannot have a sense of outrage or upset about what is happening in our names. I object to the fact it is being done in our name. There is a failure to speak out and say it is not acceptable. The deal was rotten. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade knows that it was utterly rotten from the start and we were trying to buy our way out of our obligations. Any organisation worth its salt on the ground told us that and that it would not work. It has not worked. There was a crisis well before this crisis when Turkey purported to open its gates to let refugees, asylum seekers and migrants out. The crisis was on the ground in Greece which was left to deal with extraordinary numbers of people in unacceptable situations.

How many did Europe take in? One would imagine the Taoiseach would have told us that today. A cap of 72,000 was put on the number to be taken in under that deal. We failed to meet that ridiculous cap and took in 27,000 Syrians from Turkey in four years. That was well below the cap. It is significant which countries stood up and took in those refugees, namely, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Finland.

I say all of this in a context of figures which are so damning that it is difficult to say them. In six years, between 2014 and 2019, 19,140 people went missing or drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. Holidays to the Mediterranean take on a new meaning when one looks at the number of people who drowned or went missing. These are the figures I got, which could be wrong. I suspect they are higher.

One would imagine that when we entered into the deal, part of it would have been to monitor it and follow up year on year to see if we were complying with our obligations, bad and all as the market was. We did not even do that. We wait until there is a humanitarian crisis and then we send over an unelected president to show solidarity with Greece, as was pointed out by a Green Party Deputy, but not with the people on the ground. We praise Greece for being a shield and our protection from the influx of these people. These people are seeking protection under international law under which we have the most serious obligations. Do we show solidarity and attempt to analyse or use our voice, a small voice as it is, even to question how this could have happened? How could the ambassador from Turkey be on "Morning Ireland" this morning disputing the amount of money Europe has given Turkey?

Surely it would be simple enough to confirm, given the size of the EU and the number of auditors there. Given their attention to detail when it comes to transgression of EU law, we should have the details written down on paper as to how much money was given and the reason for the delay on it.

I am ashamed - I say that reluctantly - to be here as part of this Dáil while men, women and children are in a no-man's land and certainly a no-family land. It is all being done in our name. It is all for €6 billion given to Turkey which should never have happened. In fairness, Turkey has taken in an astronomical number of people. I do not know how it has managed that, nor do I know how Greece has either. What have we done in this country? Perhaps the Tánaiste might give us the figures today in respect of the 4,000 that we promised to take in many years ago. How many have we actually taken in? It would be helpful if we had a written copy of the speech from the Taoiseach and if that was outlined for us and the difficulties. We have none of it. It is utterly unacceptable.

Ní féidir glacadh leis. Ní féidir leanúint ar aghaidh mar seo. Seo Dáil nua le Teachtaí Dála nua agus tá gá le hoscailteacht agus le trédhearcacht. Is gá dúinn a bheith mar dhaoine daonna agus ceisteanna a chur ar ár shon.

See this speech in context