Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

As matters stand, we oppose this motion. If we can get something that actually amounts to a commitment that the Irish forces and Naval Service personnel will not be engaged in any capacity-building or training of the Libyan Coast Guard, then we could support this. That is not what we have at the moment. We should be clear on that. Let those of us in opposition not fool ourselves that we have a commitment. Instead, in the Tánaiste stated that it is not intended that Naval Service personnel will be involved. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to clarify the position in this regard. If the intention changes, there is no legal requirement to come back for another vote here. We will have given the approval, the triple lock will be unlocked, and there will be no necessity for another vote.

That is a fundamental problem because I understand it is the case that Irish forces have already been involved in training the Libyan Coast Guard. Clearly, European forces have been extensively involved in capacity building and training of the Libyan Coast Guard under Irini. I will read into the record some of what the Libyan Coast Guard has got up to. There have been horrendous abuses of human rights pushing back more than 40,000 men, women and children into detention camps where there are inhumane conditions, torture and so on. This is part of the very ugly face of the European Union's fortress Europe policy. It is part of the so-called externalising of Europe's borders by effectively outsourcing the dirty work to forces such as the Libyan Coast Guard to keep migrants from crossing the Mediterranean. We know about all the horrendous deaths there.

I will quote from the UN Report of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya published on 1 October 2021. The report found:

reasonable grounds to believe that acts of murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts committed against migrants form part of a systematic and widespread attack directed at this population, in furtherance of a State policy. As such, these acts may amount to crimes against humanity.

To be clear, that is a reference to acts by the Libyan Coast Guard. The report further states: "This finding is made notwithstanding the responsibility that may be borne by third States, and further investigations are required ... to establish the role of all those involved". The conditions in detention centres are described as "intolerable" and consciously "calculated to cause suffering and the desire to utilize any means of escape, including by paying large sums of money to militias, criminal gangs, traffickers and smugglers who have links to the State and profit from this practice." The report explains that the interceptions of the Libyan Coast Guard are:

violent or reckless, resulting at times in deaths. There are reports that, on board, the Libyan Coast Guard confiscates belongings from migrants. Once disembarked, migrants are either transferred to detention centres or go missing, with reports that people are sold to traffickers. Interviews with migrants formerly held in detention centres of the Department for Combating Illegal Migration established that all migrants – men and women, boys and girls – were kept in harsh conditions, some of whom die. Some children are held with adults, placing [them] ... at high risk of abuse. Torture (such as electric shocks) and sexual violence (including rape and forced prostitution) are prevalent. Although the detention of migrants is founded in Libyan domestic law, migrants are detained for indefinite periods without an opportunity to have the legality of their detention reviewed, and the only practicable means of escape is by paying large sums of money to the guards or engaging in forced labour or sexual favours inside or outside the detention centre for the benefit of private individuals. Several interviewees ... [described] that they had endured the same cycle of violence, in some cases up to 10 times, of paying guards to secure their release, taking part in an attempt at crossing the sea, being intercepted and subsequently being returned to detention in harsh and violent conditions, all the while under the absolute control of the authorities, militias and/or criminal networks.

Everyone can agree this is absolutely horrendous. We want a guarantee that Irish forces will have no role whatsoever in increasing the capacity of these people, or their training, to give them more facility to engage in this sort of horrendous practice.

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