Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I second the Government amendment. The great scandal and tragedy of our age and the horror in human terms has been the treatment of migrants, whether it is the ultimate, which is people who drowned for wanton neglect, misadventure, too many people on boats etc., people who are trafficked for sexual purposes or people who are enslaved in various ways. It is the scandal of our time. I salute the Civil Engagement Group for tabling this motion. It is an excellent and timely discussion.

The horror in all our minds at the moment is the recent drownings. As Senator O’Loughlin mentioned, 82 died – I had a note that stated 78 – but it is many more, I am afraid. From the excellent article written by Sally Hayden in The Irish Timesrecently, we note that 51,000 people have died since 1993, 27,000 of whom have died since 2014 and those who have not died have experienced extraordinary trauma. Some 84% of those who died are officially unidentified, which is a horror in itself. There is obviously huge human suffering. They belong to families, as Sally Hayden correctly points out and so on, and that we cannot ignore.

I am proud of the Irish mindset and I was very proud of all the villages and towns across this country in that respect. Recently, it was the question of the Ukrainian displaced people but there were also the Syrian refugees and various refugees in villages and towns. What was interesting was not that there was a little protest or right-wing grouping. They are making a protest but what was interesting, including in my own village, is that in excess of 99% of the population had no hand, act or part in such protest and embrace people. We can be proud of Ireland in that regard. We have every reason for that to be the case when we remember the 1 million people who were forced out in emigration at the Famine, the 1 million who died in the coffin ships and all of that. We have every reason. It is in our psyche and we should be the way we are. It is worth taking a bow in passing, if you like, as a people, and perhaps we public representatives can reinforce and congratulate the people. There has been a focus on the few people who protested; there has not been on a focus on the silent, vast majority who had no hand, act or part in it, of which I am very proud.

There is a mindset issue in Europe. Because of our demographics now and the labour shortages etc., we should embrace and realise that there is need for migration and new people to come into Europe. This was recognised by Angela Merkel but it needs to be recognised across Europe that we need people to come in in various sectors, such as hospitality, right across to intensive agriculture; you name it. There are huge labour shortages across the board right through Europe. There is an interesting demographic; there is an ageing population and a highly-educated population, many of whom will not take on roles, so there needs to be a changed mindset there. We also need another change of mindset. There should be that welcoming mindset, seeing them as an opportunity.

We also have to look to relieving the debt on the countries from which these people are being pushed out. We have to look at development policies. We need Marshall aid plans for the countries from which the migrants are being pushed out. That needs to be done.

The purpose of the Government amendment is not so much to disagree in principle and take issue with the broad thesis – that is not an issue - rather, it is to put a bit of focus on what the EU has been doing. There has been a recent agreement on migration and asylum and the Oireachtas has opted in to a regulation on the European Agency for Asylum; that was completed on 22 March 2023. On 8 June, our Minister of State was one of the home affairs ministers who reached agreement, and I assume he will elucidate that later. Two of the most central legislative acts of the asylum and migration pact are the asylum and migration management regulation and the asylum procedure regulation, APR. These initiatives are important. Our approach has to be Europe-wide. We have to be part of a Europe-wide response. We cannot respond in isolation to the European situation. The point of the amendment is to emphasis that, not to challenge the central thesis or the contention that this is a human crisis, an attack on humanity and that it is evil and wrong on all fronts.That is not the challenge. The challenge is to bring further into focus what the EU has been doing. However, as Senator O'Loughlin has said, there is a need to do more. Of course there is. There is a need for a change of mindset and for a new approach to the countries that are the source of the migrants through something like Marshall aid or development funding and debt relief. A number of these countries are crippled by the debt they are being held under by the International Monetary Fund. That needs to be looked at. There also needs to be a change of mindset in Europe with regard to the potential of these migrants to enhance our society. It is a worthwhile debate. I will leave it at that. It is something to which we should return often.