Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am proud to be part of the Civil Engagement Group and to bring a human rights and equality-focused motion once again to the House. In recent days, we have seen what multinational search and rescue can look like.We have also seen what happens to ships that are reported to be in grave danger and there is no response. Ireland has been involved in search and rescue missions in the southern Mediterranean. The EU withdrew those services in 2019, a measure for which Fine Gael's MEPs voted. However, it is clear that this move by the EU has not stopped desperate people trying to find refuge in Europe. Since 2014, it is estimated that 27,000 people seeking refuge have died or gone missing. Organisations working in the field believe the numbers are higher. We have lost hundreds of people in the past few days alone. Any time we have turned on the news in the past two weeks, we have heard about people dying in the Mediterranean. We have a responsibility to keep people safe and, as legislators, we should feel obligated to do that. As my mother used to say, if you cannot do anyone a good turn, why would you do them a bad one?

The motion calls on the Government to make the ocean safer for migrants who are crossing it. Who wants to put their children at such risk? Who wants to be packed like sardines crossing the ocean in search of safety? Who wants to do that? Absolutely nobody wants to. We have a responsibility to help to save lives. We may not save every single life but we have a responsibility to try our best and do our bit as a country.

We are lacking empathy when it comes to migrants and refugees fleeing war and violence. We do not talk about the refugees who are fleeing their own governments and fleeing breaches of their human rights and right to equality. The motion calls on the European Commission and Council to take a number of steps, including ending policies that are trying to harden Europe's external borders. The motion also calls on the European Commission and Council to stop the placement of people who are seeking asylum in detention conditions in third countries that violate their human rights. We are talking about people who are desperate and who are already exploited. We are talking about people being charged to take that horrible, disgusting, dangerous journey to safety. Everywhere they turn, they are being exploited. Even when they land, they are kept in detention centres in horrible, abusive conditions. I understand there is a process but I believe we must care for people seeking international protection while they go through that process.

The motion further calls on the European Commission and Council to urgently review detention centres in third countries. It breaks my heart, as a person and mother, to see what is happening. We are just sitting back. If anything, we are voting with Europe instead of trying our very best as a country to protect people. Where is the outrage at thousands of people dying on European shores? Where is the outrage? Where is the multinational response? We can help the search and rescue effort and this motion calls for that. We can play our part. We can show leadership. We can encourage other European countries to step up to the mark. Senators have said that migrants bring a lot to our countries. If they really think that, let us get them here in safety.

I am glad the Department of Justice is represented here today, to be frank, because it is usually the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, who has to deal with issues that impact migrants and refugees. It is welcome to see the Government and the Department of Justice stepping up to the mark. However, we are disappointed that the Government's amendment is not next to or near the motion we in the Civil Engagement Group, CEG, are calling for. The countermotion, frankly, appears to have been put together yesterday or this morning. It does not protect people or call for Europe to protect migrants or people who are seeking safety. People again feel failed. The CEG feels failed because what we have proposed to protect people has been met with a countermotion. The amendment has been proposed without even talking to us and without any consultation whatsoever with migrant groups. We would be as well off putting the countermotion in the bin, to be frank, because it does not support what we are calling for.