Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, I thank the Senators for what has been an extensive interaction about this issue. If I was to read the room, so to speak, I imagine that the Seanad in the main supports the opt-in or the protocol that is to be provided in terms of the Council decisions. I acknowledge those messages of support from individual Members of the Seanad. So many different points were raised today and I will do my best to address them.I want to nail the lie that the Government has responded inadequately to this crisis. It and, by extension, the Irish people have been involved in it since 2011. If one factors out Syria, one realises the Irish people, through Irish Aid and Irish and international NGOs, have actually committed over €100 million in funding. This has been achieved through multilateral organisations such as UNHCR, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, and international NGOs. In this regard, Ireland has committed a considerable amount of funding, €100 million in total, to seek to ensure there are in-country or in-region solutions and that aid is disbursed in a way in which it reaches those most in need.

Members will know the UN General Assembly was in session last week and has been in session for part of this week. Ireland continues to support a referral by the UN Security Council of the case of Syria to the International Criminal Court. It also seeks accountability for the multiple war crimes committed during the conflict. However, we all have to recognise that Irish foreign policy is absolutely or partly tied into an EU position, as Senator Bradford stated, but we continue to lobby and hold bilateral meetings with other countries on the need to ensure there is a political solution to this crisis within the region. The need for political stability is paramount. Owing to the political instability that exists, there is a humanitarian crisis.

It is sad and shocking that it took the image of a small boy on a beach for a political response to emerge. I acknowledge the points made by Senators on the European Union response. I have stated at development Ministers' meetings that the establishment of an EU trust fund still raises many questions about the response. Sometimes at EU level, there is a legitimate critique of the tardiness of the response and of the potential to create duplication in the pan-European response where there is no need for it.

Last week I had bilateral meetings with Mr. Stephen O'Brien from OCHA and Mr. António Guterres from the UNHCR on the needs of their organisations. With regard to Ireland's foreign affairs response, the scarce resources we have are being deployed increasingly to deal with humanitarian crises and we have to focus on the long-term development goals that actually lead to political stability or enhance political stability in the very regions that we are talking about. Therefore, there is a major challenge for the world. Ireland is seeking to do what it can multilaterally and bilaterally, politically, developmentally and in terms of humanitarian assistance, to bring about greater involvement by the very countries that have been referred to, particularly those in the Middle East, which are not devoid of resources. This is to ensure that they assist people within their own regions. A global political response is required. I acknowledge absolutely the points that have been made in that regard.

There is a cross-departmental and agency task force. Its role is to co-ordinate and implement the logistical and operational aspects of the Irish refugee protection programme, which I outlined earlier. I cannot name all 40 stakeholders on the task force because I just do not have that information. However, the Departments of Justice and Equality, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Social Protection, Children and Youth Affairs, Public Expenditure and Reform, Health, Education and Skills and the Environment, Community and Local Government, city and county council managers, the Irish Red Cross, the UNHCR, Tusla and the HSE are all involved in co-ordinating the reception. The Houses of the Oireachtas have not yet passed the actual motion, but we are working as a state with all the stakeholders to try to organise all the dynamics that obtain when 4,000 additional persons are brought into the country. There will be an increase in that number because of the family reunification element-----