Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)
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If any of my colleagues who appended their names to the motion wish to add anything, they can do so.

I will be brief. We heard about the situation from Mr. William Browder of Hermitage Capital Management. Motions have been passed at OECD and Council of Europe level which condemn what happened, call for the perpetrators to be pursued and for the imposition of sanctions on them. The motion specifically calls on the Government to impose Magnitsky law, which would publicly list the names of those involved, deny them visas into Ireland and freeze any assets found in Ireland belonging to those responsible.

Yesterday, the USA published a list containing the names of 18 people who will be banned from entering that country, four of whom are judges. This shows that the rule of law and the separation of powers are non-existent in Russia. Those who have been to Russia and interacted with civil society there will be aware of the deep dissatisfaction among citizens there about this situation. I understand from newspaper reports that the resources of the state have been sequestered by a small number of oligarchs who have close association with the Kremlin and the authorities therein.

This is a stark and fundamental issue of human rights. The amendment which Deputy Durkan will propose is very much in line with what the Polish Parliament did in 2010. However, the situation has moved on significantly since then. This is an opportunity for us to make our voices heard. It is interesting that the reply from the Russian embassy includes a note of warning to us that our approach would not enrich bilateral Russian-Irish relations and could have negative influence on the negotiations on the adoption agreement. It also refers to their depriving US citizens the right to adopt Russian children.

I do not have anything further to add based on the information we have received. The question for the committee on this fundamental issue of human rights is: "Do we stand four square behind it or not?"