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

We identify the horrors we have been reading about in many Arab countries, north African countries and sub-Saharan African countries with extreme terrorism and religious intolerance by Christians against Muslims and Muslims against Christians.

We are speaking from the point of view of the West, including Ireland and our greatest neighbour in Europe and closest trading ally, Britain, as well as America. Will the delegation tell me how this view goes down in Third World countries when they read about or hear people in the West decrying their cultural attitudes to homosexuals and people of different tribes and religions? What is their reaction when they hear the sickening debate on what constitutes torture when it is engaged in by the United States of America? Everybody knows about the degree to which one can waterboard a prisoner and how close one can bring a person to death before it constitutes torture. We know that the policy in the West has been to engage a lot in what we call rendition to bring people to countries such as Jordan and Egypt. The reason they are brought to such locations is the use of torture is prevalent and prisoners can be subjected to it. Apparently, there are secret prisons around the world. They are so secret we do not quite know where they are. There have been reports on Guantanamo Bay and pictures of men in orange suits being detained, yet the West talks to the rest of the world about how terrible countries are to engage in torture. Does the delegation think such imagery has damaged how the West is viewed and are such countries saying we are hypocrites?