Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to agree with what has been said about our secretarial assistants’ pay.

I want to begin by expressing my deepest sympathy and devastation at the loss of 27 souls in the channel between England and France. It is timely to call for statements on support for refugees. I do not want to call this a refugee crisis because the implication there is that somehow the refugees, the people themselves, are the crisis. In an actual fact, the real crisis primarily comprises the political, economic, military, ecological and environmental policies that are driven by so-called developed states, most of which are in the West.

We have heard about the problem of smugglers exploiting these people. That of course is the case, but smugglers exist to exploit a particular situation. They step in where exploitation is available to them. When you adopt policies like a "fortress Europe" approach, when you vote in the European Parliament to diminish search and rescue operations for refugees fleeing oppression and military occupation or ecological devastation, then of course people will flee. Of course people will seek refuge. It was not so long ago that that was us. We used to call these boats “coffin ships”. That used to be us fleeing that devastation. We have a key role, not just as members of the European Union, but particularly given our position on the United Nations Security Council to ensure that Ireland is a voice for people fleeing and seeking refuge around the world. People like mysefl and Senator Alice-Mary Higgins have been raising for years now in this House the reorientation of our Defence Forces away from search and rescue capacity, as we are drifting worryingly ever-closer to an EU army.Given the tragedy in the Channel between France and England, it is timely that we have an update from the Minister for Foreign Affairs on what the State is doing to ensure that those seeking refuge can avail of it here and across the EU.