Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also note that many European politicians decried the role of traffickers in the shipwreck that occurred near Greece this month. Let us be very clear; the best way to combat trafficking is to ensure safe routes so that people can have their asylum claims heard in Europe.If safe routes were provided, traffickers would have no business model and so it is the duty of Europe to provide those safe routes. This leads us to a fundamental question. Why do we, who are born in the safety of Europe through absolute moral luck and nothing else, work to make this continent a more unwelcoming place? Those founding principles of the European Union, including human dignity, equality and human rights, are values that I believe in but where are they now? What we have instead is a Frankenstein version of European values; a reality where we are both creator and monster. Earlier this year, my colleague Senator Higgins asked the following question in response to comments from the Taoiseach that migration policy should be hard, firm and fair. How is it fair that EU countries that have a long history of ransacking African countries for their wealth and resources, which has contributed to the climate change that makes parts of the world uninhabitable, continue to focus their efforts on identifying how they can be more unwelcoming, rather than on how they can ensure the world is habitable place?

In bringing this motion, we want to show that there can be accountability and that we want the Irish Government, the European Commission and the Council to live up to the founding values of our Union. I am arguing that all parties should support this motion and reject the Government's amendment, because this situation cannot be allowed to go on. There must be accountability and justice for what has happened and what is happening. Tonight, people from parts of the world rife with conflict, violence, climate breakdown and poverty are sitting in detention centres in Libya, or in dire conditions in other places at Europe's external borders. They deserve a safe future as much as we do. I commend this motion to the House.