She was speaking after an emergency summit of EU leaders, which was sparked by the sinking of an overloaded migrant boat on Sunday.
The decision to triple funding means its financing is on a par with that of a search and rescue mission that Italy controversially cancelled last year.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was very pleased EU leaders had agreed with his proposal to triple funding for the EU's Triton operation to €120m.
"We felt that doubling it (the budget) wasn't really that credible, so we wanted to bring it up to the same level as we had for (former Italian operation) Mare Nostrum," he said.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that Ireland will contribute a naval vessel to the search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean following the loss of up to 900 lives off the coast of Libya last weekend.
Arriving at an emergency summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Mr Kenny said: "We are prepared to allocate a fully crewed and equipped naval vessel, once the legal clarifications become clear."
Mr Kenny said the Government had also agreed to provide €1 million to the International Red Cross for Libya.
The Taoiseach* said the naval vessel would be used for search and rescue, as well as humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean, "depending on the caveats and the legal requirements."
"This is a mounting humanitarian and political crisis, the equivalent of almost three jumbo jets have been lost," he said.
"When you consider a million have left Syria for Lebanon and south Jordan there's a humanitarian crisis happening every day."
Ireland has already agreed on the settlement of 114 refugees under the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Programme, and would take in a further 220 Syrians who have been recognised as refugees by the United Nations refugee agency......................http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0423/696085-migrants/
23/4/15
*The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland.
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EU leaders commit ships, aid to address migrant crisis...
ReplyDeleteLate to the rescue, European leaders came through on Thursday with pledges of big ships, aircraft and a tripling in funds to save lives in the Mediterranean after the deaths at sea of more than 1,300 migrants over the past three weeks, and agreed to lay the groundwork for military action against traffickers.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, whose country has been faced with almost daily tragedy as rescuers plucked bodies from frigid waters, called it "a giant step forward."
Within days, Britain's aptly named HMS Bulwark and the German supply ship Berlin could be steaming to the heart of the Mediterranean in the biggest sign of the European Union's belated commitment to contain the tide of rickety ships making the perilous crossing......timesofindia.indiatimes.com
24/4/15
EU migrant action 'not enough'...
ReplyDeleteHuman rights groups say measures by the EU to tackle the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean do not go far enough.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Save The Children have all called on Brussels to expand the area its ships will patrol.
They said unless EU search-and-rescue operations cover waters near Libya then migrants will continue to drown...
Meanwhile the alleged captain of a boat that sank off Libya on Sunday has appeared in court in Catania, Sicily.
Mohammed Ali Malek, a 27-year-old Tunisian, is accused of inadvertently ramming the overloaded fishing boat into a merchant ship that had come to rescue it, causing it to capsize.
He and another crew member, who has is also facing charges over the accident, were among 28 survivors of the 750 people on board.
Mr Malek denies charges of illegal confinement, culpable homicide, causing a shipwreck and aiding illegal immigration.....bbc.com
24/4/15
EU summit outlines plan to cope with Mediterranean migrant crisis...
ReplyDeleteAn emergency summit of European Union leaders that continued late into the night, produced a plan to cope with a wave of refugees trying to reach Europe by sea.
EU leaders did not reach a decision to launch a new naval operation in the Mediterranean to protect their borders, but agreed to triple financing of EU’s Operation Triton to €120 million a year, as well as to send extra ships, helicopters and planes to save lives in the Mediterranean.
The leaders agreed to coordinate action on accepting and distributing among all 28 member countries the migrants who have grounds to get refugee status, repatriating promptly those who were denied the status.
Thirdly, the European Union announced its bid to fight the causes of migration flows, expanding cooperation with countries of North Africa and lending aid.
The Mediterranean migrant crisis will be once again discussed at a next planned summit in June, European Council chief Donald Tusk told reporters.
The summit was convened after hundreds of migrants died when a boat sank in the Mediterranean last weekend.
TASS
24/4/15