Donegal senator and European Election Candidate Niall Blaney says a call from fellow candidate and party colleague Barry Cowen for the border to be hardened to handle a serious escalation of the ongoing migration crisis is ill judged.
He says while Deputy Cowen’s comments do express the genuine alarm and frustration experienced by people everywhere, this is an all island issue and a European issue which will not be resolved by hardening borders.
He says successive governments have failed to address the impact of migration on health, education and other services in the border counties, the west and the midlands.
Senator Blaney this requires cooperation at all levels…………
Statement in full –
Statement: Senator Niall Blaney
The call by my colleague Barry Cowen for the border to be hardened to handle a serious escalation of the ongoing migration crisis is ill judged.
Whilst Barry’s comments do express the genuine alarm and frustration experienced by people everywhere it is a frustration felt not just in the south but across the entire island. This is not the way to go.
We have fought long and hard to get rid of border controls on this island. I am angered that anyone in the Dáil would suggest that after the Good Friday Agreement that this is only a problem on one side of the border.
I have been continuously raising the crisis that many counties are experiencing in health and education. Leo Varadkar promised a fund over year ago to deal with towns that are feeling the squeeze. That fund has yet to be set up, and not a penny spent.
The Taoiseach needs to accept that this is a crisis and call an emergency meeting of the cabinet to ensure that immediate action takes place.
This is a European problem, and one that we should seek to handle in that wider context. This is why a border voice in the European Parliament essential. I certainly will not abandon them.
