John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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321. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the measures the Government has taken or is prepared to take in order to raise the issue of the plight of refugees who are stranded on the border between Poland and Belarus; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56044/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland stands with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in resisting the attempts by Belarus to provoke a violent confrontation on the external border of the European Union. Our view is that this is a humanitarian crisis above all, and that the welfare and safety of the affected migrants must be our priority.

Ireland has repeatedly raised the plight of refugees stranded on the border between Poland and Belarus at meetings at the UN, OSCE and other international fora. Just last week, our Permanent Representation in New York supported an informal meeting at the UN Security Council to raise the matter.

At a European level, Ireland is co-sponsoring a fifth package of sanctions against individuals and entities complicit in the Lukashenko regime's exploitation of migrants. In a positive development, and in response to outreach from the European External Action Service, certain airlines have taken measures to ensure that their aircraft cannot be used for the trafficking of migrants.

In addition, we are engaging bilaterally with Member States bordering Belarus to ensure that international aid workers and experts can be allowed to assist migrants trapped on the border. Ireland provided €100,000 to the Lithuanian Red Cross to help ensure migrants in Lithuania are supplied with food, shelter and other essentials.

Belarus must allow people to return to Minsk and subsequently travel back to countries of origin.

We need to see a peaceful resolution to the current crisis, and we call on the Belarussian regime to stop playing with the lives of vulnerable migrants.