Mr. John Devitt:

I thank the joint committee for inviting us to address it on a very important topic. I am joined by Mr. Miklós Ligeti, head of legal affairs at Transparency International Hungary. He is a former member of the Hungarian civil service, having worked for the public prosecution service, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior. He has been working with Transparency International Hungary for the past two years.

I draw members' attention to correspondence we shared with the Hungarian ambassador in June this year highlighting our concerns about allegations and reports that the Hungarian Government had led what could be described as a campaign against civil society organisations, including the blacklisting of a number of organisations such as Transparency International, gay rights and women's rights groups in Hungary, as well as the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union. We copied the correspondence to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the former Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, to alert them to our concerns. We are particularly anxious that the Irish Government address what we believe is an existential threat to a number of civil society organisations in Hungary and what we see as an attack on fundamental European Union values by a member state.

I am happy to join the discussion, however I will now hand over to Mr. Ligeti.