Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for bringing forward and dealing with this debate. It is important to emphasise again that there is a triple lock system involved in this matter. It requires a UN mandate, approval by the Government and approval by the Dáil. We are going through that system. We have done that before in respect of peacekeeping operations. There are already 25 EU countries involved in Operation Sophia. We are now also joining this operation. It is about co-ordination and working together. We should remember that this project has already saved more than 36,000 lives. We are now getting involved in an operation which has rescued and saved many people. It is very important that we continue in that role. It is also important, however, that we take on the people who are causing the problem. They are the smugglers who are making huge money. This is about ensuring that they are not extorting and extracting substantial sums of money from people who are being promised safe passage to Europe but are in fact getting something totally different and whose lives are being put in danger.

I have heard the arguments today about this project. They were the very same arguments which were put forward when Irish troops were deployed to Chad in 2008 under a UN mandate and with the approval of the Government and the Dáil. The very same arguments are being made today as were made in 2008. That was an EU project under which we assigned Irish troops to protect 570,000 people in refugee camps on the Sudanese border. I was a Member of the European Parliament at the time. I was on the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I actually went to the Sudanese border to see what it was like and what the Army would be doing. I prepared a report for the Subcommittee on Human Rights on that matter. That was about providing safety and security for the people from three or four different countries who were being forced into these refugee camps.

There were many complaints at the time that we were becoming part of an EU military alliance. It was far from it. It was interesting to watch how people in Europe reacted to this project at the time. The people who were pro-NATO did not want Europe getting involved because they saw that Europe becoming involved in a peacekeeping role would undermine the intentions of those involved in NATO. On the other hand, when the Irish Army was deployed there, a member of the British defence forces reported back to the committee in the European Parliament that the Irish Army had achieved more in six months than the French had achieved in the previous 30 years in some of the areas and villages around the refugee camps. That is the contribution that members of the Irish Defence Forces, including the Naval Service, can make. They approach situations in a totally different way - a peacekeeping way which is based on influencing others around them. That is why the Naval Service becoming involved in this operation influenced how others managed this project. It is about peacekeeping and saving lives.

It is extremely important that we give credit where credit is due. Much good work was done in those two years during which we worked within the European project on the Sudanese border in Chad and a much credit was given at European level. I witnessed it. I saw that the contribution of the Irish Defence Forces was very much appreciated and recognised as having had a huge influence on the entire project. Likewise, I have no doubt whatsoever that the Naval Service will have an influence on this project, even though we will only be one of 26 countries involved. We will have an influence in respect of the future management of this project and that is the important contribution which we will make. When some people say we should stay outside the door, I say that this is UN mandated peacekeeping and that we are going through all of the procedures which are constitutionally required in respect of how we manage these operations.I welcome this development. It is a way forward but it is also about influencing how others behave at European level. It is about saving lives and providing protection for the very vulnerable. I welcome the decision for us to partake in this project. I thank the Minister of State for debating the matter with us today.