I too express our sympathy to and solidarity with the families and friends of Noel Whelan and Brendan Grace.

More than 2,000 children are in US migrant detention centres. They have been separated from their parents and crammed together in massively overcrowded warehouses. In many cases, they are held for weeks in very cold temperatures, with the lights on 24 hours a day and without adequate access to medical care, sanitation, soap, water or food. It is the grossest, most inhumane and depraved expression of President Trump's anti-immigrant, racist policies. The centres meet the definition of a concentration camp. It is the mass incarceration of people, in this case children, without trial. A lawyer recently inspected a facility in Texas and stated:

[The children] were filthy dirty, there was mucus on their shirts, the shirts were dirty. We saw breast milk on the shirts. There was food on the shirts, and the pants as well. They told us that they were hungry. They told us that some of them had not showered or had not showered until the day or two days before we arrived. Many of them described that they only brushed their teeth once [...] The guards are asking the younger children or the older children, “Who wants to take care of this little boy? Who wants to take of this little girl?” and they’ll bring in a two-year-old, a three-year-old, a four-year-old. And then the littlest kids are expected to be taken care of by the older kids, but then some of the oldest children lose interest in it, and little children get handed off to other children. And sometimes we hear about the littlest children being alone by themselves on the floor.

This was a pre-announced visit and one can only imagine the circumstances where there is no warning of such a visit. It is absolutely heartbreaking stuff and it is not an accident. It is being done in an extremely conscious and open way by the Trump Administration to discourage asylum seekers from coming to the United States.

The conditions those people are fleeing from countries in Central America include vicious narcotics gangs, collapsed economies and ecological disaster. To a very large degree, these are the result of the policies of the United States, which has ruthlessly dominated that region for 150 years. That includes dozens of military interventions, support for military coups and the implementation of the so-called Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA.

There is a growing movement of protest targeted against these migrant detention camps. People like Megan Rapinoe, the United States women's soccer team captain, have spoken out against the message from Donald Trump of excluding people. In the most powerful recent message, workers at the Wayfair furniture company in the United States took the lead by walking off the job because their company refused to stop doing business with these for-profit detention camps. That is what solidarity looks like and these are the steps needed to shut down the camps and take down Trump.

The question is what the Government will do about this. A year ago we passed a motion unanimously in the Dáil describing this treatment as inhumane, undignified and unwarranted, and we called for these practices to be reversed immediately. What has been done by the Government and how has it spoken out about this? Was the matter raised by the Taoiseach with Donald Trump or was he able to come to Ireland to play a game of golf while being responsible for these conditions at home, including the death of seven children in the so-called care of the United States immigration agencies? Will Mike Pence be able to do the same in September and will this Government continue with mild hand-wringing and criticism when they are not here but grovelling subservience when its representatives meet officials of the United States Administration?

The images we see from some of the detention centres on the southern borders of the United States make for very uncomfortable viewing. When refugees and asylum seekers cross a border, there are international standards that should be expected and delivered, particularly in the protection of children. The migration challenges and the suffering of children is not solely confined to the camps we see in the United States and the European Union must also look at itself with regard to questions around migration. It is not just the need for generosity to be shown to people fleeing conflict, as there are also international standards and obligations that should be adopted.

Today, across the globe, there are over 70 million people who are either refugees, displaced persons or asylum seekers. It is an enormous number and I hope Ireland is trying to give some leadership in how integration can work. We deal with much smaller numbers than many other countries but the collective challenge for the European Union in terms of migration is one on which we need to focus, as well as offering constructive criticism on how other countries manage migration.

I do not want to shy away from this. Like others, I have been concerned about and critical of the border management on the southern border of the United States. Nobody wants to see children separated from parents and they should not be. This is the source of a significant debate in the United States Congress on Capitol Hill and there are differences of opinion. The European Union and its member states need to consider how we, as a collective, deal with the migration challenge, as well as offering criticisms or observations on what happens abroad.

Will the Government voice those criticisms to Mike Pence when he comes here in September? Did the Taoiseach raise any of those criticisms with Donald Trump was here last month? The conditions are obscene and horrific, and they are well beyond the bounds whereby what is needed is just some constructive criticism. We need clear condemnation by the Government of the actions of Donald Trump and the US Administration. It is what we need and it is part of building international pressure. This will get worse. When we passed the motion a year ago, the conditions were not as bad and there were not as many children affected. Conditions will continue to worsen unless there is a movement for change, particularly in the United States but also elsewhere.

I agree with the Tánaiste's point that the European Union must also look at itself, as it is not a paragon of virtue. The EU outsources its dirty work and the Government agrees with that. For example, it agreed with the deal with Turkey to give that country €6 billion to have the migrant camps there rather than in the EU. The Government agrees with the externalisation of migrant policy by the EU, which means these camps are being set up in north Africa, for example. Broadly speaking, it agrees with the fortress Europe policy that has seen 10,000 migrants die in the Mediterranean since 2015. If the Tánaiste believes that Ireland should be a leader, we should shut down direct provision, as 6,000 people are in that direct provision using for-profit camps.

The Deputy has raised many issues and I would like to have the time to respond to them. I do not.

The Tánaiste has a minute.

I accept that and I will stay within the time. This House made its views clear on the separation of children in the context of migration and refugees, and that position has not changed. I am not aware of everything raised by the Taoiseach with President Trump but I certainly hope to have the opportunity to meet Vice President Mike Pence when he visits Ireland later this summer.

The EU policy on migration will be one of the big challenges for the next five years for the European Parliament, the Commission and the European Council. We need to partner with neighbouring countries in trying to manage migration in a way that would not see an increase in the rise of the far right and anti-immigrant sentiment. Providing practical political solutions that are also generous and humane in managing migration is one of the big challenges and Ireland certainly wants to be part of that discussion.