David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Dr. Murphy to our meeting today and thank her for her time and her work on this very important issue. We know that historically the military has been extraordinarily powerful there. There are almost 500,000 members of the military. Dr. Murphy referred to the need for an international arms embargo. Following on from Senator Joe O'Reilly's question in which he suggested that the military in Myanmar was getting support from other countries, could Dr. Murphy say who has supported it in the past with the arms it has? I noted on some television programmes recently that it has quite a powerful set of hardware. For it to work, an arms embargo would have to be universal and include all countries. Given that it has such an arsenal, I wonder what its impact would be.

Deputy Brady asked about Covid. With the mass gathering happening at the moment, and with no testing or treatment, it is obviously a huge concern also. It could spread among the general population. I noted that many of the doctors in the hospitals are refusing to co-operate with the military junta at the moment and the healthcare system has more or less collapsed. Perhaps Dr. Murphy would comment on that.

The situation of refugees going to other countries such as to India, China, Laos and Thailand and the Rohingya refugees going to Bangladesh is of huge concern. Dr. Murphy mentioned more than once her concerns regarding this complex spreading to other jurisdictions and destabilising the general area. Will she say a little bit more about this? What are her concerns about this and how might it happen? We would all agree with the responses Dr. Murphy suggested we make in our role on the UN Security Council and in the European Union, and that maybe we should support the Government and the Minister in what he is doing in that regard.

Reference was made to the fashion industry, which Dr. Murphy said is quite important to that region. What other industries are there underpinning Myanmar's economy? I am aware it has oil, gas, and a lot of renewable energy. Will Dr. Murphy comment on that?

The situation is a huge concern. There are very few places in the world where this kind of thing is happening at the moment, and to this extent. I know there are wars elsewhere. Syria was similar to this and we saw what happened there. This is very worrying. I thank Dr. Murphy for being here and for the work she is doing.