Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This motion pertains to two council decisions of the EU establishing measures in the area or international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece of 14 September 2015 and 22 September 2015, also known as the relocation opt-ins. I welcome the relocation plan, a collective response and definitive action from the EU. It has been a long time coming.

The civil war in Syria in which citizens have been caught between the al-Assad regime, rebel groups and religious extremists, all committing war crimes including the use of chemical weapons, torture and extrajudicial killing, has been going on since the Arab spring of 2011. Some 95% of the 4.3 million Syrians who have fled the civil war have been residing in the refugee camps of neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, which we have been repeatedly told by the UNHCR and the world food bank are underprepared, under-resourced, overcrowded and seriously overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of refugees they are dealing with and due to the lack of food, the spread of disease and the cold of winter setting in. Many of the refugees believe their only option is to seek refuge in Europe, even at the risk of what both we and they know to be a perilous boat journey. The Arab states of the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia whose envoy to the United Nations in Geneva has just been elected chair of the UN human rights panel of experts, have taken in zero refugees, which has been described as especially shameful by Amnesty International.

Despite all our knowledge, the EU seems to have been taken by surprise in terms of its preparedness to receive refugees when this summer saw the highest influx of refugees into Europe since the Second World War. After the Second World War and the Holocaust we said, "Lest we forget." That was the genesis of the EU and the political glue that holds us together. The European Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Oscar Wilde said, "The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it." I agree, because I fear we are in danger of repeating it. In preparing this statement I came across a wonderful animated video from a series called "In a Nutshell", which explains the European refugee crisis in Syria in an extremely accessible way through animation and commentary and I recommend it to everyone. One of the quotes from it really struck me. It said:

We are writing history right now. How do we want to be remembered? As xenophobic, rich cowards behind fences?

Images of fences, barricades and barbed wire on our European borders are reminiscent of a time we swore never to revisit.

This crisis is a shameful example of where the response of the citizens has far outweighed that of us as political representatives. Huge credit goes to the people of Europe for their compassion, their empathy and their demand for political action. The relocation plan is definitely a step in the right direction. The current programme to relocate 40,000 persons from Italy and Greece, with an agreement in principle to relocate an additional 120,000 over time, needs to be implemented as a matter of urgency. It is limited from the outset compared to the present need. The UNHCR has already given a preliminary estimate that 200,000 relocation places are urgently needed.

I commend Sophie Magennis, head of the UNHCR office in Ireland and the UN designated official to Ireland, for her comprehensive address to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade earlier this week. I share the concerns of the UNHCR in Ireland that, notwithstanding relocation, no further measures have been proposed to create more legal pathways for refugees to reach safety in Europe. The UNHCR urges a substantial and rapid increase in legal opportunities for refugees to access the EU. This would include enhanced resettlement and humanitarian admission, family reunification, private sponsorship and humanitarian and student visas. In this regard I note that Ireland has established the Syrian humanitarian admission programme and operates a resettlement programme but I still believe we can do more to promote the flexible use of entry visas by authorities here. I am also proud to note that Ireland has a longstanding history of being one of a very small number of resettlement countries to which vulnerable cases, such as families and medical cases, are referred by the UNHCR following its registration, assessment and recommendation phases.

I think we have an important role as parliamentarians to raise awareness about these programmes and Ireland's important role in resettling refugees here. There is no Irish person who would not be horrified and moved to know that, in Syria, 50 families have been displaced every hour of every day since 2011. We have a platform to debunk much of the scaremongering and the untruths circulating about the so-called Islamification of Europe, a possible crime spike and a drain on our resources. None of this is true and it must be challenged as part of assisting and encouraging integration into Ireland and its society.