Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I also want to express shock and horror over what has happened this evening in the English Channel.

Given the amount of movement of migrants and the way this has been handled it was more a matter of when, rather than if, that was going to happen. It is just appalling. Tomorrow morning, we will find out the names and we will see faces and there is a different reality when that happens. All we can do at this stage is think of their families who are going to be hearing this awful news.

On this particular amendment, I take the point about achieving balance because I raised the case of Seán Binder when I was speaking on Second Stage. Subsequently, we saw it in the media and saw what he is likely to be facing. We should be trying to protect people who are genuinely trying to provide humanitarian assistance. It is in our DNA to do that. We have significant numbers of very high-profile charities that are well-supported. It is in our DNA because of our own heritage and our own experiences of fleeing this country purely for survival and not just for a better life. We have an obligation to ensure people who want to offer humanitarian assistance and are involved in organisations can do that. The last thing we want is for people to second-guess what they should do when their entire instinct is to provide humanitarian assistance. We want to close off the routes for people who are taking money to traffic people. I know nobody in this House would condone that, support it or want a loophole that would allow that to happen. It is not good enough to allow this Bill to go through without addressing this issue comprehensively.

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