Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has been a significant move in the international community toward Iran with people looking to it to play a constructive role in the Middle East, a development which I welcome. It is important Iran focuses on human rights issues. There is a disparity of culture but we must respect the ambassador’s culture.

However, there are some fundamentals in human rights that are universal. They would certainly be about freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. In particular, there are concerns with regard to people involved in opposition politics not being allowed to articulate their viewpoint or freely participate in the political situation. Having a robust democratic system would, ultimately, be to the betterment of Iran.

The issue of capital punishment has been mentioned by some of my colleagues. It is not just a problem for Iran but is a problem in the US and various other countries across the globe, including Russia. It is a very significant human rights issue now upon which an increasing focus is being brought. Iran also executes minors which would be very unusual even among countries that have capital punishment. Will the ambassador comment on that?

The other issue is freedom of religion, which is often spoken about but not observed as often even, unfortunately, in parts of Europe. Apostasy is a capital crime in Iran which seems to be an appalling breach of a person's human rights. We all saw the situation with Mariam Ibrahim in Sudan recently but there have also been situations in Iran. This committee argued vigorously with the ambassador's predecessor with regard to Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani who was subjected to incarceration for quite a period because of his religious beliefs. Given Iran's leadership in the region, anything it does should have an influence upon the thinking in the Middle East, which does need to change. There are aspects of Iran's conservative policies with which people might not have difficulties but there are also aspects which are very oppressive and which, in this instance, would be seen as breaches of human rights.