Ms Maria Walsh:

I thank the Senator very much, first, for his enthusiasm in talking about the peace project that fundamentally built and continues to build our European Union. To address his point, I do not agree we are doing enough. I do not believe we have the answers quite yet. I say that in light of the reaction we had when Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban in recent weeks.

The initial reaction, particularly in groups and at committee level, was about where we house refugees and asylum seekers. It was about how we protect our own versus welcoming a fundamental loss, as the Senator said, into why we built the European Union. There is certainly an opportunity to fix and work on our reception centres and the welcoming that we give when moving people, as promised through the asylum pact, in less than six weeks and finding forever homes within the European Union, working again with VET opportunities in bringing people through education streams, particularly protecting women and minority groups faster and with ease.

While I am not just stepping aside from Afghanistan, I believe we also have much work to do at home in this country as well as across the EU. Hungary and Poland were previously mentioned. Since 2008, the anti-discrimination directive has been blocked by members of the European Council. When we think about it so many years on, that is the cornerstone and fundamental foundation for what the Senator just shared in terms of the peace project, protecting minority groups, anti-discrimination and hate both online and offline. That needs to move and we need to clean up the fact that our refugee and asylum process is simply too slow.