Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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115. To ask the Minister for Defence the nature of the activities that the LEEithne will be engaged in as part of Operation Triton. [21356/15]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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This is a continuation of the discussion we had earlier about the activities in the Mediterranean. The Minister has clarified that theLE Eithneis not involved in Operation Triton and is there on humanitarian grounds, but he also went into combat with a straw man by saying doing nothing was not an option when nobody was arguing for doing nothing. Operation Triton replaced the Mare Nostrum programme, which cost €9 million per month while Operation Triton costs €3 million. The EU has put up its borders and is making it more difficult for refugees. Should Ireland not be playing a more positive role? Being neutral is not the same as doing nothing.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am glad we agree that being neutral is not the same as doing nothing and we are doing a lot. This is, however, the first time an Irish naval vessel has ever gone overseas on a mission such as this. When the LE Eithnehas gone overseas previously, it has essentially been on diplomatic missions, as opposed to a humanitarian mission like this. It is a new departure for the Naval Service and it is doing a really good job under quite difficult circumstances.

Most people would recognise that it was a mistake to downgrade Mare Nostrum in terms of what was being spent and in terms of providing capacity to assist migrants coming across the Mediterranean Sea. That is why we are seeing a significant increase in activity on humanitarian grounds. That is my focus and it is that of the Defence Forces and the Naval Service. If that should change, it could only be on the back of a UN Security Council resolution and, should we be asked to be part of something broader, the application of the triple lock. Our role has been highly effective in the past ten days and will continue to be effective through the summer. I suspect we will maintain a presence from the point of view of search and rescue and humanitarian activities at least until the end of September.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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Does the Minister agree with the words of President Michael D. Higgins that the failure at EU level has turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard? Given that the Minister said he did not agree with the downscaling of the Mare Nostrum operation, are we to take it that, at EU level, the Irish Government is arguing for search and rescue operations to be restored to that level rather than what has currently been embarked upon?

What is the Minister's attitude to the suspension of the Dublin Convention whereby people arriving in an EU country have to be processed for asylum in that country, which is causing major problems for Italy and Greece? Has he advanced the discussions about taking extra refugees? I do not know if the Minister saw the excellent letter by Ed Horgan, the famous peace activist in Limerick and former Irish officer, who made the point that on 11 April 2015 some 300 asylum seekers drowned in the Mediterranean. On the very same day the EU launched a spacecraft into space and recovered that piece of hardware from the ocean at a cost of €150 million. Is it not obscene that we would spend €150 million rescuing a piece of hardware and yet downgrade a rescue operation, putting the lives of hundreds of people at risk when we have been complicit in making them refugees in the first place?

The Minister said we had to look at it but that there was no immediate solution. We know that, but non-intervention would be a very good start. We could stop the flood of refugees by stopping the interference in their countries in the first place.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has put a lot of questions and made a number of comments. I have dealt with most of them in previous questions. I said that most people would accept it was a mistake to reduce the resource level in terms of search and rescue and in terms of the assistance we give to migrants in the Mediterranean. The tragic drownings which happened in the past six weeks or so shocked many people. As a result, Ireland and other countries have dramatically increased resources which we are now applying to provide partial solutions to the problem, focusing at the moment on search and rescue and humanitarian assistance. That is a good thing. Rather than focusing on mistakes made in the past, we should focus on trying to solve the problems. Ireland wants to contribute to that effort and we are doing an excellent search and rescue job at the moment. We will contribute to the broader debate on how Europe, collectively, can help to address the reasons for mass migrations from Libya and north Africa.