Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I find it absolutely infuriating to listen to people in the one breath talk about the value of life, the value of migrants, how they should be treated, the value of their work and contributions when they get here and then, on the other hand stand with a European Union that does use EU money, through the trust fund for Africa, to intercept boats at sea. We can make the stretch and say that it is not our money that is paying for detention centres.We are talking about breaking the cycle of smugglers, while creating the need for detention centres. By intercepting people at sea, and sending them back to detention centres, we are creating the need for detention centres where people's human rights are being abused. We say that, as a people, we hold this value because of our history, the coffin ships and so on, but it is all starting to mean absolutely nothing. The values we hold cannot only exist in the act of holding them. We have to act on them. The countermotion removes the call for the return of search and rescue.