Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I have been briefed by them on a previous occasion. Each time I hear statistics, I think that if even a fraction of them are correct it is a frightening scenario.

That 65,000 people were murdered for their organs is mind-boggling, to say the least. The delegates are representing the Falun Gong. However, my human rights stance is that prisoners have rights, whether they be Falun Gong, Christians, ordinary decent criminals, Uighurs or members of other minority groups in China. I know a little about China because I have been there a couple of times. It is becoming more sophisticated, westernised and free. Notwithstanding the censorship, there is still an amazing amount of freedom of communication over the Internet. A man from the United States of America has done a runner with information on American surveillance. If there are thousands of people working on projects such as this, someone will eventually spill the beans. What amazes me is that, given the openness that is developing in China, there has not been greater evidence from Chinese people or that it has not been used by Taiwan for political purposes against the mainland. Do the delegates accept that Chinese citizens have become more rights-conscious and that this debate should be taking place in China, given the freedom of access to the Internet, as opposed to the delegates coming to Ireland to convince us that these abuses are taking place?

In the West we carry donor cards. The words "organ tourism" were mentioned. The delegates will be aware that we use organs from England. Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and other hospitals network internationally to provide organs, of which a country is in short supply. We would like the Chinese to use the gift of life donor system. As a westerner looking at China, the second most powerful economy in the world, and watching it blossom economically and otherwise, I wonder why people there not able to communicate all of this information in their own society.