Dáil debates

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

10:25 am

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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11. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the European Union-wide settlement programme for 160,000 refugees only delivering for 0.17%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3040/16]

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is reported that of the 160,000 refugees the European Union has agreed to resettle, a pathetic 0.17% of them is all that have been taken, despite the quite vile hysteria whipped up by certain governments, most recently the French Government, about these desperate people fleeing the most desperate circumstances. In fact, Europe has done very little to implement even what it said it would do to resettle 160,000 people. Will the Minister confirm that fewer than 100 of the 2,500 this country was supposed to take in by the end of 2015 have come to the country? The figure I have heard is 32 and perhaps the Minister can give us the actual figure. When will we take our full complement of these desperate people who need our assistance?

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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To take up the phrase the Deputy used, that Europe has done very little, I attended the meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers on Monday, and if the Deputy heard my Swedish, French, Belgian, Croatian and many other colleagues, he would not say this. I understand the perspective he is using to state it has to do with the relocation programme. The reason I state he would not say what he said, that Europe is not doing very much, is if he saw the hundreds of thousands of refugee migrants who are arriving in those countries which are all responding and providing facilities of varying types and trying to do their very best. In fact, the situation now is that it is very difficult for countries such as Austria and Sweden, to name just two, to take any more of the flow that is coming across the Balkans in particular. Those countries have tens of thousands of those people who have crossed the Mediterranean and who have come in through the Balkans. They are looking after them in their countries.

The point the Deputy made on the relocation programme is correct. Very small numbers - a couple of hundred - have been relocated to various European countries. The reason for this is the migrants who are arriving are not registering and there is not the capacity to force them to register in the various hotspots being set up for the relocation to start working effectively. This is because the migrants want to move to Germany and Sweden and this flow is continuing. We discussed this in detail. Ireland is ready and recently accepted the first Syrian family. It is not because we are putting up any barriers that people have not arrived. It is because of the situation I just described. We are ready.

We have had all the task force meetings. I had a meeting with all the church bodies just two weeks ago and they are all ready to help migrants, who in all likelihood will be assessed very quickly as refugees, as is the Red Cross, which co-ordinated the voluntary offers of help. The relocation mechanism depends on these hot spots working effectively and the migrants registering in them and understanding that relocation to different European countries is possible and that they do not have to continue their flight to Sweden and Germany, because that is often their choice.

10:35 am

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I do not think comments such as those of the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, regarding the threat of destabilisation across Europe because of the refugees, in which he also said that Europe was incapable of taking this number of people, were very helpful. We have had other far-right-influenced comments and statements by certain leaders across Europe. Much of what was agreed at the European Council seems to be about stemming the flow of people getting into Europe and putting up Europe's borders rather than assisting people. There are thousands of people in these camps in harsh winter conditions. Forty people drowned last Friday, including kids, off the Greek islands. This is horrendous stuff.

I am not pointing fingers at the Minister, but it seems to me that the reason refugees are not going to certain countries, notably France and also Hungary, which has a particularly vile record, is that it is being made clear by certain European leaders that they are not welcome. These European leaders are essentially pandering to racism and xenophobia and creating hysteria when there should not be any. One point I like to make is that in the highest year of immigration into this country, during the boom period, more than 10,000 people came into Ireland in one year. Almost as many people came into this country in one year as Europe is planning to take in over the entire resettlement programme, and virtually nobody noticed.

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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To take up the Deputy's last point, if one attends the citizenship ceremonies, one can see that on any one occasion, 1,000 or 2,000 people are getting Irish citizenship. Of course, that arises from people following legal routes and being welcomed into Ireland and other countries. Well over 1 million people have now arrived in Europe from the various countries. One of the features of the current crisis, as it is developing, is that migrants are coming from many countries from which one would not necessarily expect refugees to come. We are now seeing a very wide range. It is not just people from Syria, which is understandable, but from a wide range range of other countries in north Africa, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. That is a feature of the current flow.

There is concern about the flow that is coming into Europe and there is a wish to put structure on it. The relocation initiative was the attempt by the European Commission to begin to do that and to help migrants and refugees to understand that they did not have to go via smugglers - that there was a route for them to come safely into Europe. The vast majority of European countries are willing to help and have shown that they are willing to help, but it is a formidable challenge. This huge flow of humanity that is coming through the various routes presents enormous challenges. I believe we have to work with the countries of origin as well as with Turkey. There is a big debate about external borders and the threat to the Schengen area at present because of what is happening. I do not believe that would be in anyone's interest.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I do not know whether the Minister is familiar with the singer Manu Chao, but he has a song called "No Human Being is Illegal". That is the narrative we need to put out there. I do not even think terms like "flood" and "huge" are helpful. A very serious crisis has occurred in Syria, but the truth is that, because of the demographics of Europe and our ageing population, we need people to come in. Immigrants add, rather than subtracting, economically, socially, culturally and in every way. We have to be very forceful and robust in standing up to certain leaders and certain voices across Europe who are, frankly, misrepresenting in a racist, xenophobic manner and creating hysteria when none is required.

Of course there are logistical questions, but I fear some leaders are moving towards "fortress Europe" policies that are directed more at keeping people in Africa or the Middle East. How the hell are Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which are much poorer than most of the European countries, able to handle it? I am sure there are problems for them, but they manage. We have to be more generous, we have to change the narrative and we have to stand up to the racist voices, including some of the European leaders, who are not being helpful in this.

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy regarding standing up to racist voices. However, I do not agree that there has been a "fortress Europe" response. I do not think that is accurate when one sees what is actually happening and the major initiatives and responses to the tens of thousands of refugees arriving into communities across European countries. We were not under any legal obligation to respond to the European request, but we did so immediately and have given a number of 4,000. We are certainly open to that.

I also take the Deputy's point regarding immigration. Peter Sutherland would say again and again in his role as UN representative on this that there is very strong evidence of the contribution immigrants make to economies and that it is a plus as opposed to a minus. Very often, the narrative, as the Deputy says, does not reflect that. It is very important that we have a balanced narrative in respect of the huge numbers we are seeing, but we do need legal routes and we need proper processes in place for all sorts of reasons. We need people to register and be fingerprinted and to be offered the kind of relocation that was the European Union's response to the crisis in the first instance.

Written Answers follow Adjournment.