David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Mr. Turner for his presentation. At the very start, he said we enjoy freedom here, but for many years that was not the case. In the past we had the penal laws and all that. Thankfully, that is well behind us. He indicated in his presentation that some countries have improved and are moving in the right direction while others have not. Overall, the map is pretty harrowing in large parts of Asia, Africa and even South America. There is a difference in South America because people are fighting for human rights and so on. Rather than it being an anti-religious thing, it is more people standing up for people who need champions. Mr. Turner might correct me if I am wrong in that.

The report states that Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries, which is amazing in some ways. I join Deputy Cowen in supporting the group's three requests, that we write to the ambassadors, that we write to the Minister and that we consider a refugee pathway for what it describes as a small number of people to come here. It must be particularly harrowing for people to be arrested, held without trial, tortured, raped and executed for their religious beliefs. It strikes me that some religious beliefs have as a value that there can be no other religious belief which is a major conflict and very hard to resolve.

I note that countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela are also on the group's watch list. There are also quite a lot in Africa and in India. I have no issue with inviting ambassadors to appear before the committee and certainly drawing attention to the fact that we had this meeting today. There are major concerns about this. I thank Mr. Turner for his presentation and for his work.