Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on yesterday's events.

I wish to briefly comment on Shannon heritage sites, which are key for our tourism product across the mid-west. We know the Government has dropped the ball and that these sites should have been transferred to Clare County Council. What is completely inexplicable is the fact that absolutely nothing has been done since the budget and now the workers, whom I know and I know their union, SIPTU, very well, are now faced with being put on short time from the new year. It is shameful that the Government has dropped the ball not once but twice and do not seem to know what to do about it. The inaction is, frankly, inexcusable and hugely damaging to the mid-west tourism offering.

I want to raise the issue of migrants attempting to reach Europe. One of the key themes of the Christmas story is there being no room at the inn. The Border Violence Monitoring Network has published a shocking report which documents more than 1,635 testimonies of human rights violations that have affected almost 25,000 people over the past six years who tried to make their way to Europe. In fact, the network reports that migrants attempting to reach the EU are now almost always subjected to some form of violence at the hands of the authorities. They recount being beaten, kicked, humiliated through forced undressing, threatened with a firearm, arbitrarily detained and subjected to inhuman treatment inside a police station before being illegally pushed back both at the EU's external borders and from deep within the territory of the bloc's member states. These events took place in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. These events are not exceptions. This report tells us this is an EU policy of fortress Europe to lock out people, keep them out and subject them to violence. These are the detailed reports of this latest NGO report and the findings are shocking. I ask for a debate on this matter to be arranged for the new year because there is a marked contrast between what we show we can do, and quite rightly in terms of supporting the people of Ukraine, and what we refuse to do for other migrants who are basically being pushed back, and subjected to horrific violence and abuse on a daily basis. We hear about EU values but these are EU policies on a daily basis.