Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I am surprised by these remarks. I certainly was not aware of any of this. Some time ago, when I was a Minister, I visited India and I met the chiefs of staff of the defence forces, all of whom were non-Christian but educated by Irish Christian Brothers.

The chiefs of staff had the height of respect for the Irish Christian Brothers. There was no hint of antagonism but, admittedly, that is a while ago. Have things got worse in the recent past or have they progressively worsened? Perhaps it is me but I was totally ignorant that this matter was such a problem. It does not seem to have been covered in the media reports that I have read and it was eye-opening to hear the contributions made here this morning. I look forward to meeting the Indian ambassador to see what she has to say about the matter. There is no way that anybody can stand back and allow the persecution of anybody based on religious grounds, no matter what religion they have. I hope that the committee will follow up on the matter.