03/09/2015

Call For Govt To Take 'Urgent Action' Over Refugee Crisis

The Government is being called to take "urgent action" over the refugee crisis.

Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin said the tragic deaths of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi and his five-year-old brother Galip have to be the catalyst for every country in the EU to make an extra effort to ease the humanitarian crisis.

Deputy Martin said: "The contribution of the Irish Navy is very admirable – we can all be very proud of their performance in the Mediterranean Sea but Ireland has to do more to accommodate more refugees.

"We have to learn lesion from the Second World War. These families are predominantly war refugees from Syria. They are risking their lives to try to get to another country to live normally and raise their children in a safe and secure environment.

"They are crossing land and sea in a desperate cry for help. Ireland and Europe cannot ignore it any longer and as Mr. Sutherland said today 'Europe has a brief chance to rescue its integrity'.

"I have no doubt there would be all party agreement in the Dáil to accommodate more refugees and I am calling on the Taoiseach to make this urgent decision immediately."

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson said: "The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean with people fleeing conflict in Syria and throughout the Middle East has been increasing over the last year.

"The scale of this crisis has been graphically and starkly brought home to us all with the heartbreaking image of a three year-old boy laying dead on a beach having drowned in the Mediterranean after trying to reach a new life in Europe.

"No one could fail to have been moved by this horrendous sight.

"The international community, and the European Union in particular, have a key role to play in addressing what is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis."

(CD/JP)

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