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

The tragic tactic here, in terms of the images of migrants on our borders not being able to get in, is to try to make the EU look bad. It is an incredibly cynical tactic. A number of migrants have died in these circumstances. This is an awful situation. From an EU perspective, we have to support EU member states in the challenges that have been effectively foisted on them by the Belarusian regime. As I said earlier, we also have to internationalise the issue. We need to ensure that the international media has access to the areas where migrants are and that there is assistance and support for migrants and their families in what is an extremely difficult situation. Ultimately, we have to try to stop this too. If we allow a precedent to be set, whereby third countries that have a quarrel with the EU can essentially use migrants in this way, that is totally unacceptable as well.

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