The EU would have to do more to stop migrant smuggling and the trafficking of women and children, in particular, Fianna Fáil deputy Seán Ardagh told a joint parliamentary committee meeting in Brussels yesterday.
Mr Ardagh was addressing the meeting in his role as chairman of the Oireachtas committee on justice, equality, defence and women's rights. He said that a balance had to be found to ensure that EU citizens could move freely while criminal networks, organised crime and terrorism were not allowed to flourish.
"Migration issues must be firmly embedded in the [ European] Union's external relations with countries of origin and transit as part of a global approach to migration," he said.
Mr Ardagh also urged that new border management controls should not involve the setting up of new institutions: "The focus should be on making the current institutional framework work in an efficient and positive manner."
The meeting also heard a call for help from the president of the government of the Canary Islands, Adan Martin Menis. He said that the islands were "overwhelmed" by the huge number of illegal immigrants arriving on their shores in recent months. "Africans have found a new way of scaling the wall of fortress Europe," he said.
As many as 1,000 people could arrive in one day and more than 27,000 had sought asylum this year. He estimated that a further 3,000 had drowned trying to get there. "This means that one out of 10 die in the attempt," he said.
Mr Martin Menis said that moral and ethical questions surrounded the arrival of 900 unaccompanied minors on the islands. His government was working to provide help and support to these children and to eventually reconcile them with their families, but the numbers were "unsustainable".
He also pointed to evidence that the immigrants were increasingly travelling from farther afield on "long and very dangerous journeys". Border controls had now become a humanitarian matter, as they could prevent thousands of deaths, he said.
Meanwhile, John Denham, chairman of the home affairs committee of the British House of Commons, said that manufacturers must not be allowed off the hook if it emerged that their suppliers had employed illegal immigrants. He said that companies often blamed contractors or sub-contractors for hiring illegal workers, but they must be made more accountable.
Stavros Lambrinidis, a member of the European Parliament's committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, called for a greater focus on integrating legal migrants.