Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of migration and ask for a debate on the migration crisis across Europe. During the summer, I was part of a delegation from the Council of Europe that attended SOS children's camps in Athens. We saw the wonderful work that is going on there but we were conscious that the children who had accessed these camps were the lucky ones and a small minority. It is shocking to realise that there are thousands of children effectively detained in detention centres across Europe at present. Only this morning, I saw reports on Euronews about a camp on the island of Lesbos called Moria. It has a capacity for 3,000 people but currently has 9,000 in the camp. The conditions are appalling - no hot water for women with new babies, dozens of people for any one toilet, no proper facilities, no education facilities, no support. With winter approaching, they are in makeshift camps. One has to wonder, when one hears a lot of guff all the time about European values, where are these European values for these children. It is a huge failing.

I do not blame the Greek Government. The Greek Government has been swamped by the crisis. All of us can agree it is countries such as our own that have not done enough. It struck me on the visit to the SOS camps that regardless of whether my colleagues are on the right or, like myself, on the left, we all agreed that this was appalling and that Government should do more. The Government's target of 4,000 is just not adequate. The reality is 3,000 people have come to date. Would it not be wonderful if we could have a debate on this topic, agree on a cross-party basis and send a clear message to the Government that we must do more to bring more people to this country, to build a new future for them, and in our way show more than mere talk and do something concrete to help address this appalling crisis?