Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I asked two questions on the Taoiseach's visit to China, which I welcome. As he said, a relationship has been developing over 30 years. He would have to acknowledge also that the Asia strategy of 1999 represented a very significant expansion and upscaling of the nature of the relationship between this country and China. I recall that back in 1999, two-way trade was worth approximately €500 million. By 2007-208, I understand it was worth €5 billion. That is true of many other countries and it reflects what is one of the great stories - whatever way one wants to put it - of the late 20th century and the early 21st century, that is, the fundamental change in the nature of the way the globe operates. The rise of China and India has had a fundamental impact on the world economy and we have yet to fully take on board the full consequence of that.

The Taoiseach raised a number of issues, including the life sciences. It is important we do not lose sight of our strategic need to continue to invest in research and life sciences. In the current financial climate, there is a danger that we are not paying the same attention to that as we did over the past decade and that researchers are being lost to the country.

The intellectual knowledge based approach with China is central. In that context, did the Taoiseach raise the issue of intellectual property rights, which has always been a very serious one and a bone of contention between Europe and China in terms of the development of products, services, patents and so on, in particular in the area of software and technology? China has always been interested in a strong relationship with Ireland in regard to software but it would seem the issue of intellectual property has retarded the development of that relationship with people having a certain sense of security around intellectual property rights.

Did the Taoiseach raise the visa situation or did the Chinese authorities raise it with him in terms of ease of access of Chinese students or educationalists to Ireland? The whole concept of a tourist visa has been mooted for some time by the last Government and by this one. Will the Taoiseach outline the up-to-date position in that regard as an important catalyst for the attraction of a greater number of Chinese tourist traffic?

The Taoiseach mentioned the EU-China dialogue on human rights, which is a very important framework and perhaps represents a substantive framework where proper weight can be attached to the issue of human rights as Ireland has a very strong international reputation for its commitment to human rights. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that we have to insist on our right to raise these issues at high level bilateral meetings. Equally, we must acknowledge that if one was to compare the China of today with that of 30 years ago, there is a marked difference and significant improvement. We would have to acknowledge progress. More than 0.5 billion people have been taken out of poverty as a result of the economic growth and progress but much more needs to be done and many questions need to be addressed.

Will the Taoiseach assure the House that he is committed to retaining Ireland's policy of voting in favour of an assertive human rights platform at the United Nations, in policy and elsewhere, irrespective of trade links or the impact of an assertive human rights policy on trade?

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