Results 1-6 of 6 for operation sophia segment:8048889
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2021)
Lynn Ruane: ...conflict areas in 2016, military ships, including the Defence Forces' LÉ Róisínand LÉ Eithne, were assisting boats that smugglers had left stranded in the middle of the sea. In 2019, however, the EU mission named Operation Sophia, which called on those ships, was wound up. At the time, this drew criticism from organisations such as Amnesty International and the Irish...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: ...were incredibly proud. Then there was a withdrawal from the bilateral arrangement, and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, believes we did not have the option of another such agreement. We then joined Operation Sophia. The former Minister of State with responsibility for defence, Deputy Kehoe, speaking directly to me in this Chamber said of that operation that we were now moving from a...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: ...this. People will keep trying to travel, they may do so with the assistance of smugglers and the latter may take advantage of them. As I have said - I said it many years ago when we were debating Operation Sophia - the cause of deaths in the Mediterranean is not simply the existence of boats; it is the existence of desperation.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: ...regard to the smuggling of persons and what steps have been taken to establish safe passage routes to reduce the reliance on and vulnerability of persons to smuggling. As I said earlier and when we discussed Operation Sophia a number of years ago in this House, the cause of smuggling is not the existence of smugglers or boats. The driver of smuggling is the existence of desperation, war,...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2021)
Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 25: In page 19, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: "Report on search and rescue operations 17.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining the State’s record and current practice in respect of humanitarian search and rescue in the Mediterranean, including the number...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2021)
James Browne: Any involvement by the State in international humanitarian search-and-rescue missions and operations, including the involvement of the Naval Service, is done in co-operation with our EU partners and in the context of our UN missions. The Naval Service's involvement in the Mediterranean was as part of Operation Pontus and Operation Sophia. The Naval Service has not been deployed to the...