Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues who have raised the issue of the crisis in the Mediterranean.The sinking of the Titanic occurred 103 years ago yesterday. A great number of people lost their lives in that tragedy. Many more people are now losing their lives in the crossing from North Africa to Europe.

We have questions to answer on issues such as the arms trade. Many of these conflicts are fuelled by the people who are selling arms and ammunition produced in the US and Europe. We should ensure this arms trade is curtailed or eliminated because we are now suffering its consequences, with conflict continuing to grow in many regions and a major crisis on our hands. As someone who served on the foreign affairs committee and the sub-committee on human rights in the European Parliament, I am aware of the huge issues involved which we cannot ignore. We must play our part in delivering an immediate solution on behalf of the people concerned. For $6,000 it is possible to purchase a boat which can transport up to 600 passengers, each of whom is charged $1,000. Somebody is making a lot of money out of this human tragedy. It is important that we debate the issue with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to clearly identify how we are going to deal with this issue from a European perspective.

Last weekend I attended a conference of junior doctors. We want them to stay in this country but I was appalled to hear that junior doctors in one of the major hospitals in this country do not have Internet access in the doctors' residence. The hospital library is only open at certain hours during the day even though these individuals are supposed to be studying alongside their work. These are some of the reasons why they are leaving the country. We are not offering them structured contracts or suitable working conditions. I want to raise these issues with the Minister for Health because they will have to be addressed if we are to keep these people working in the health system in Ireland. I ask the Leader to raise the issue with the Minister so that we can discuss it in our next debate with him.