Paul Murphy: Exposes 'Fortress Europe' in EU Migration Policy

I want to use this opportunity to speak about the reality of the European Union's migration policy, which is not, unfortunately, the image which they would like to present to us, of one of humanitarian, welcoming refugees fleeing war and persecutions. Instead, it is a consistent record of racism and of fortress Europe, of trying to keep people out, often people who are fleeing the consequences of policies of countries in the West, trying to keep them out at any cost, and at massive humanitarian cost and massive loss of life. What happened at the Spanish enclave of Melilla, at the border with Morocco, a few weeks ago, sums it up. Here you had Moroccan border guards, paid for by the European Union, as part of a policy of externalisation of EU borders, managing a situation where 37 refugees died, trying to flee from war, from persecution, and died either by being crushed against the fences in some case, or in others by being beaten to death by these border guards. Funded to the tune of 100 million euros by the European Union. That's the true face of European Union migration policy. The same, you look at the European Union deal with Libya, or with Turkey, massive amounts of money given to fund border guards, to externalise European Union borders, and with the result of horrendous treatment of those trying to flee war and persecution. Over the last five years, violations by the Libyan Coast Guard have been repeatedly filmed and recounted by victims and eyewitnesses. Shootings at heavy laden inflatable boats, beating people during disembarkation, throwing petrol cans onto boats, and then facing with people being detained in Libya's very brutal detention system. And even within the borders of the European Union, you look at what is happening in Greece, and I'm asking the Minister and the Government to commit to being in favour of an independent and transparent investigation into the clear breaches of even what is European Union law being undertaken by the Greek State. Look, for example, at the clear policy that exists of pushbacks. Pushbacks, as the Minister will know, is where a Coast Guard or border body of some sort, after refugees have come into Greek territory, European territory, are pushed back out into international waters in order to make them someone else's problem. It's illegal, but it is a definite policy by the Greek Government. To quote the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrants, he says, In Greece, pushbacks at land and sea borders have become de facto general policy. In mid-March 2022, 30 Syrian asylum seekers, including two pregnant women and seven children, were confined on the islet of Everos River for six days following an alleged pushback operation by the Greek authorities. Or even if refugees manage to get into Greece, Then they are taken into an EU-funded so-called migration centre worth 43 million euros in Samos. And this migration centre in reality is a detention centre for migrants. Approximately, according to Oxfam, one in five people have been in de facto detention for two months. Effectively, it is deliberately far away from towns, from villages, completely isolated. The excessive use of security, constant CCTV monitoring of all residents, and 8pm curfew, absolutely horrendous treatments, and it's EU-funded. Or take the example of the way those who try to, you know, act in the interest of human rights, act in the interest of the rights of these refugees, take the example of Sean Binder, and there's many others. Sean Binder we know because he's from Ireland. He's currently still facing trial, it's now delayed, and that's part of a tactic of intimidating people from engaging and helping migrants. For helping migrants, he's facing up to a 25-year prison sentence if he's found guilty. I mean, this is the reality of what EU migration policy is. At the very least, I would like the Minister to at least consider or investigate the idea of supporting the Oxfam call. They've made a complaint to the European Commission concerning infringements of EU law by Greece. It's extremely detailed. They have a table. They go through all the breaches. One by one, it's extremely long, because all the breaches are long, to commit to the Irish Government supporting an independent investigation into these breaches.