Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Chair will thank me for my timing as well because I do not wish to go over what other people have said either. I thank the Sinn Féin Senators for tabling the motion. Yet again we face a situation where our neighbours and their virtue-signalling towards the little Englanders on their own island have impacted our island in ways they cannot understand because they simply do not care. They are imposing on people who live and work here, who love here and who travel over the Border but who may not be citizens of their country. It just shows how they think. They thought the proposal would be okay because they did not include Irish citizens in it, showing a complete lack of understanding of what a 21st century Ireland looks like and how it operates. That imposes a border on the island of Ireland and hinders the free movement of people. Members have spoken about how we market ourselves on an all-island basis when it comes to tourism and how that is important for our economy and our people.

It is also important, as Senator Boylan said, that we think about what the Nationality and Borders Act does and what it is. It is one of the most shameful actions a government has taken, undermining as it does well-established international rights for those who are fleeing war and persecution. The spin by the British Government to the effect that it is disrupting the business model of smugglers is disgraceful. It was a dark day when the House of Commons passed that legislation. I commend people like Alf Dubs, a hero of mine who fled Czechoslovakia as a young man, arrived on Britain's shores, built a life and became a Member of Parliament. For his whole life, he has advocated on behalf of children in the same situation and child refugees. I commend the work that he and others like him did and the reasonable amendments they submitted to try to block that legislation.

War has returned to Europe's borders. We need a co-ordinated humanitarian response at an EU level and on this island. The UK is the outlier in its response to refugees. The proposal to send refugees to be processed in Rwanda sickens me to my stomach, but that is what the UK and its Government are doing. History will judge them for what they are doing. This will impact on us and on our island, but is designed to target the most vulnerable people at the most vulnerable time of their lives. UK Government members should hang their heads in shame in the context of the UK Nationality and Borders Act 2022.