Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Tá mé buíoch go bhfuil deis agam labhairt ar an ábhar seo anocht agus é a phlé. I have raised this issue several times. I want to acknowledge that the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, raised this issue at the highest levels in Europe but the reality is that the EU policies are continuing, which lead to human rights abuse.

This is a time when it is difficult to find a language to adequately describe the horror of the situation in Libya. There are two aspects to it, namely, what is happening in the Mediterranean and what is happening in the Libyan detention centres, the so-called reception centres. These two aspects are related. It is no exaggeration to say that these centres are on a par with the concentration camps of the Second World War.

The information I put on the record today comes directly from a medic who has worked both on the Mediterranean and in these centres and who I had the honour to meet recently. The situation was described as the highest level of human suffering that this medic has encountered. The centres are places of severe overcrowding. There are hangar-like cells with up to 3,000 detainees in each unit. There is limited and interrupted access to water. Illnesses range from TB, scabies, diarrhoea to violence-related injuries. There is evidence of beatings, burnings, torture and rape. This is happening in front of the staff and is also being done by the staff. There is acute malnutrition. Food can be a bread roll with a plate of pasta being shared by five people. As female cells are being staffed by male guards, there are extreme levels of sexual violence, rape, enforced prostitution and girls being taken from the centres and sold into brothels. Many babies are being born but there is no antenatal care. Sometimes these babies are being born to girls who are mere children themselves. This is a money-making operation as detainees can be sold at any time. The guards decide who decide who avails of triage services and are in charge of medical supplies for money. They also determine, for money, who can have access to the therapeutic food programmes. That is what faces those who are being rescued in the Mediterranean. This is what is happening there and being facilitated through Operation Sophia, in which Ireland participates.

I will now refer to the Libyan coastguards' so-called rescue operations. The coastguards are aggressive and brutal in their actions, and there are eyewitness accounts of their brutality. I was given one example where coastguards tried to capsize a boat. Another eyewitness told of everyone on a boat being beaten. Because of the behaviour of the Libyan coastguard it is now more dangerous for those trying to cross the Mediterranean. What role is Ireland and its Naval Service, through the EU, playing in the training of those coastguards?

I also have heard accounts of confrontations between the Libyan coastguards and humanitarian rescue boats. Today, it is reported that an Italian court refused to release a dedicated search and rescue boat from a German NGO that was doing genuine search and rescue in the Mediterranean. The boat had been seized and impounded by the Italian authorities in August 2017. There was an NGO boat, which performed a rescue 73 nautical miles from the Libyan coast, in international waters, but the Libyan coastguard demanded that the people be transferred, under threats of violence. That was resisted and the people were brought to a port of safety but the NGO boat and its crew were punished. The EU is criminalising humanitarian organisations which are doing search and rescue. That is creating a very dangerous precedent for the future of humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean. The EU policy is one of interception and containment. That allows the Libyan coastguard to "rescue" those in the Mediterranean and bring them to detention centres, both official and unofficial. In that rescue, families are also being separated. This is facilitated by Operation Sophia. What role has the Irish Naval Service there? How complicit is the Irish Naval Service in facilitating the Libyan coastguard in bringing people to those horrific centres? Must the Irish Naval Service stand by while that is happening? That would be completely at variance with our development aid policy.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan for raising this important. An Irish Naval Service vessel first deployed in the Mediterranean in May 2015 in Operation Pontus, a humanitarian search and rescue mission undertaken as part of a bilateral arrangement with Italian authorities. In the three years since that first deployment, the Naval Service of the Irish Defence Forces has rescued more than 18,000 migrants.

In July 2017, I secured Government and Dáil approval for the deployment of a contingent of the Permanent Defence Force to serve as part of the EU naval operation against human smugglers and traffickers in the southern central Mediterranean, Operation Sophia. In the course of the subsequent deployment of LÉ Niamhfrom October to December 2017 as part of Operation Sophia, the crew took part in search and rescue operations rescuing 613 migrants and assisting with a further 107 migrant rescues.

It should be noted that migrants rescued by the Naval Service are brought to a safe port or transferred to another vessel to be taken to a safe port. In that regard, migrants rescued by Operation Sophia are brought to ports in Sicily. In addition, the Irish vessel also undertook activities in support of the core task of the mission including gathering information on oil smuggling; patrols focusing on countering illegal arms trafficking; operations to intercept smugglers; and monitoring the effectiveness of the Libyan Navy and coastguard activity.

Operation Sophia’s mission is to identify, capture and dispose of vessels and enabling assets used or suspected of being used by migrant smugglers or traffickers; to prevent further loss of life at sea and to reduce the suffering and exploitation of migrants by countering and challenging the criminal organisations engaged in such activities. Operation Sophia is one element of a comprehensive approach to addressing the migrant crisis. The mission is also providing capacity building and training to the Libyan Coastguard and Navy and contributing to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2292. This imposes an arms embargo on Libya in an effort to prevent the flow of illicit arms and related materiel into that country.

In February 2018, the Government again approved the continued participation of the Naval Service in Operation Sophia. Two naval vessels will deploy this year for a period of approximately 30 weeks in total. LÉ Samuel Beckettdeparted the naval base on 15 April to participate in Operation Sophia.

Operation Sophia has been effective in discharging its mission, including to identify, capture and dispose of vessels and enabling assets used or suspected of being used by migrant smugglers or traffickers. The mission is providing training to the Libyan Navy and coastguard and its presence constitutes an internationally recognised deterrent. There has been a significant drop in the number of migrants being smuggled to Europe on the central Mediterranean route and the number of deaths reported at sea has decreased.

The training being provided to the Libyan Navy and coastguard aims to improve the security of Libyan territorial waters; to enhance law enforcement at sea; and to improve their ability to perform search and rescue activities at sea. I am deeply troubled by reports of the grave and ongoing abuses perpetrated against migrants and refugees in Libya, including in detention centres. The Tánaiste and his EU counterparts have discussed these concerns on a number of occasions at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, and the Taoiseach raised his concerns at the European Council in October last year. I join my Government colleagues in calling on the Libyan Government, and all parties, including those with de facto control of territory, to take steps to eliminate ill-treatment of migrants and to facilitate access to detention centres by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations.

The EU provides training, including in international humanitarian law, human rights and gender issues, to Libyan authorities. The EU is also working with the African Union and the UN to save and protect the lives of migrants and refugees in Libya, accelerating assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin and the resettlement of those in need of international protection.

In conclusion, thanks to these efforts, the number of migrants in official detention centres has fallen from an estimated 20,000 in 2017 to 4,000 in March of this year. A functioning and stable government for all Libyans is crucial to addressing the many challenges the country faces. Ireland fully supports the efforts of the UN special representatives to facilitate a lasting political solution in Libya.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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We know of the great work the Irish Navy did in those genuine search and rescue operations, the lives that it saved and the medical and humanitarian services it provided for those rescued. The fall in numbers is because of the EU policy of containment, which means people are being brought back to those centres in Libya. Ireland and the Irish Navy are now part of that and it is damaging the very fine and honourable reputation of our Navy. There was an EU delegation to Libya recently. I believe it was the Dutch foreign affairs Minister who, after she visited the detention centres, said they should be closed as soon as possible, but the EU is still standing by that whole situation.

There are accounts of stand-offs between non-governmental organisation, NGO, rescue boats and the Libyan Coast Guard. I know of one example where both spotted a boat in distress. People in distress on the boat were jumping into the water and trying to swim to the NGO boat, away from the coastguard. The Libyan Coast Guard became very aggressive and the NGO boat had to leave the area. To clarify again, is the Irish Navy helpless when looking at the Libyan Coast Guard's so-called rescues of people in the Mediterranean? Were there times when the Irish Navy stood by and supported the Libyan Coast Guard intercepting those vessels in order to bring those people back to Libya or will there be times when it will do so? Is the Irish Navy leaving boats to be rescued by the coastguard knowing what it is rescuing people to? Have any rescued people been transferred from ships involved in Operation Sophia, including Irish ships, back onto the boats of the Libyan Coast Guard? The Minister of State accepts the reality of what I have said is happening in those detention centres. If he does, then he is allowing our Navy, which is made up of very honourable fine men and women who have to obey their orders, to allow the Libyan Coast Guard to bring people it has rescued back into detention centres with inhuman and subhuman conditions.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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First, if migrants are transferred from an Irish naval vessel to another vessel, they are then transferred to safety on the Italian coastline. To say they are brought back to Libya is totally untrue. That is not happening. Operation Sophia has been effective to date. The main focus of the mission is security and interception operations to disrupt the operations of criminal organisations engaged in human smuggling and trafficking, organisations which prey on vulnerable people and which are exacerbating the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. The number of migrants coming through the central Mediterranean route has fallen and action against illegal arms trafficking is ongoing.

The recent statistics from the UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration, indicate that 10,949 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea during the first nine weeks of 2018. This compares to 20,051 arrivals across the region during the same period in 2017. In 2016 the corresponding figure was almost 135,000. Up to 7 March this year there have been 442 reported migrant deaths in the Mediterranean compared to 521 in 2017. Thanks to all of the people involved and the efforts they are making the number of migrants in official detention centres has fallen from an estimated 20,000 people in October 2017 to 4,000 in March 2018. There has been a significant fall in the number of migrants in these detention centres.

This has been raised at the highest level. It has been raised by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. It has been raised by the Taoiseach at EU Council level. I understand the Minister for State, Deputy Helen McEntee, has also raised this issue. I know that both she and the Taoiseach have raised that issue here in the Dáil and with their EU counterparts.