Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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169. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on discussions held with European Union counterparts regarding a military response to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean; if he is opposed to such military action by European Union states in north Africa; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17006/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean is of great concern to Ireland, and to its EU and Southern partners. Solutions must be found jointly to address a crisis on this scale.

On Monday 20 April, I attended a joint meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs Councils to discuss migration issues, and in particular the situation in the Mediterranean. At that meeting, Minister Frances Fitzgerald and I, together with our EU partners, confirmed our strong commitment to act to prevent recurrence of such tragedies. We agreed that work would be taken forward along three strands: reinforcing Frontex activities to save lives at sea, a fairer sharing of responsibilities regarding resettlement and relocation projects within the EU and a range of options to combat organized crime networks and human traffickers.

The Taoiseach attended a special meeting of the European Council on 23 April convened to discuss further the evolving situation in the Mediterranean. At that meeting, EU Heads of State and Government agreed that the immediate priority is to prevent more people from dying at sea. They agreed to use all tools at the EU’s disposal and to work in cooperation with countries of origin and transit of migrants to tackle the root causes of the current human emergency.

A comprehensive range of commitments were agreed including at least tripling financial resources for EU Operations Triton and Poseidon, thereby enabling an increase in the search and rescue possibilities within the mandate of FRONTEX. EU leaders also committed to actions to prevent illegal migration flows, to reinforce internal EU solidarity and responsibility in relation to the processing of asylum applications and relocation of migrants, and to combat traffickers in accordance with international law.

The Council did not make a specific commitment in relation to military action. There were two references in the EU statement to possible CSDP actions. The first concerns systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers, who exploit vulnerable people for profit and put their lives at risk. In this regard the Council invited High Representative Mogherini to begin preparations for a possible CSDP mission. Secondly, EU leaders committed to providing increased support to southern partner countries to monitor and control land borders, building on current civilian CSDP operations in the region.

Ireland will continue to participate actively in discussions in the coming weeks on the various strands of the EU’s comprehensive strategy, and to contribute to EU efforts to prevent further loss of life at sea.