Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing the beginning but I was chairing an event that also involved Trócaire. The witnesses' reports were extremely informative but also very challenging. It was very difficult to listen to individual cases, because when it is brought down to individual cases, one can see the effects of the principal questions that have been raised. I agree that there is a very noticeable absence of media attention, particularly on the persecution of Christians. I am not sure whether this is political correctness gone crazy in some particular way.

When we talk about respecting the right to religious freedom and conscience, that has to be done without interfering in the religious freedom of other people. Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and ISIS would all claim that they are acting according to their religious beliefs. We would be very sceptical of and cynical about what they see as religion and love of God. It must also be included that people have to have a right to their own religious freedom and conscience and practice without interfering with the rights of other people to their religious belief.

We have had ambassadors in but I think another important way is to follow up with them on particular cases. Some of us have done that with certain of the ambassadors. The recommendations that the witnesses have outlined in their presentations are extremely practical and I am sure that there is something that the committee can consider.

As it is not only Christians who are being persecuted but other groups also, is there any collective engagement with people from those particular churches? I have been involved with the Baha'i faith and have been in Iran where we raised the issue with the human rights commissioner and at other meetings. I think the collective voice could be very useful on that. Ireland is also on the Human Rights Council and it brought up certain issues on Iran which Iran had to come back and answer, and one of those was about the Baha'i faith, but if we are talking about religious persecution we should include all the groups that the witnesses have mentioned, and obviously Christians as well.

With the Chairman of the committee, at the invitation of GOAL, I had the opportunity to go to the Turkish Syrian border to look at the refugee situation there. We are aware that the Syrian refugees who got into the camps were fortunate, and those who had friends were equally fortunate, but there were Syrian couples and families who came across who depended on Turkish farmers and citizens to support them with living arrangements. There was no doubt that this was a major human rights issue. That brings me to Ireland accepting Syrian refugees. We are not accepting enough but I always have this in my head that we accept a certain kind of refugee. We accept the educated refugee, the better-off refugee, and we are not looking at people like the ones we met when we were in that area of Turkey - very ordinary people living in appalling conditions, some of them with families. When we talk about refugees, I think that is another aspect that we should highlight.

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. The committee must take on board some of the recommendations that have been made because they will be very practical for going forward.