Government TDs and Fianna Fáil have voted for the Defence Forces to join an EU military operation to disrupt traffickers on the Mediterranean Sea in a project all other parties and Independents say will breach Ireland’s neutrality.
There were impassioned speeches as critics of the move highlighted a report this week by Westminster’s House of Lords describing Operation Sophia as a failure which should be halted.
A number of Opposition TDs also questioned the need to join an operation whose mandate ends in December, and there was criticism of the Government’s handling of the motion, with little notice and no detail beforehand.
Opposition parties also highlighted the concerns of non-governmental agencies and charities working with refugees, and warned that the operation would divert resources from saving lives and would result in increased loss of life.
However, Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe said the operation aimed to not only "disrupt the activities of smugglers and traffickers, but also to prevent further loss of life at sea and reduce the suffering and exploitation of migrants by countering and challenging the criminal organisations engaged in such operations".
He said the motion would also provide “capacity building and training to the Libyan coastguard and navy”.
EU colleagues
Fianna Fáil defence spokeswoman Lisa Chambers said it was naive to think Ireland could "simply engage in a search-and-rescue operation on the outskirts of Operation Sophia" while EU colleagues do work the State should be involved in.
“It is not okay to simply accept that trafficking and smuggling of human beings will just continue on the basis that if we try to get involved we could make matters worse.”
She said 25 other EU states were participating, and there was no reason for Ireland not to.
The House voted by 80 to 38 for the UN-mandated EUNavFor-Med Operation Sophia. A Sinn Féin amendment to defer a decision until it was considered by the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee was rejected by 78 votes to 39.
The operation requires a “triple lock” of UN, Government and Dáil approval.
Sinn Féin defence spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh rejected the Government’s claims of urgency in the matter. “Why would we sign up to an operation that is nearing the end of its mandate in December given that it would take three months at least to prepare for it”.
The Naval Service is currently engaged in Operation Pontus, a humanitarian search-and-rescue mission to save migrants at sea.
Big boys
Mr Ó Snodaigh claimed “there has always been an element in the military here who want to play with the big boys”.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin highlighted the serious concerns in the House of Lords report that Operation Sophia was not working and "is contributing to more people dying because it is diverting resources from the primary task of simply picking up people who otherwise would drown".
He warned that Ireland could not contribute in any way to sending people back to Libyan detention centres that were “among the most awful places that any human beings are confined in”.
Solidarity TD Mick Barry described the operation as "a border-control mechanism".
