Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A recent Human Rights Watch report stated:

Saudi Arabia stepped up arrests, trials, and convictions of peaceful dissidents, and forcibly dispersed peaceful demonstrations by citizens in 2013. Authorities continued to violate the rights of 9 million Saudi women and girls and 9 million foreign workers. As in past years, authorities subjected thousands of people to unfair trials and arbitrary detention. In 2013, courts convicted seven human rights defenders and others for peaceful expression or assembly demanding political and human rights reforms.

The Minister says we should use appropriate ways to raise human rights issues and should not make token gestures. However, money talks louder than anything. If we tell these people they should not do certain things but continue to do business with them, do we really think anything will change? Would apartheid have been addressed without the boycott of South Africa? This country supported the war in Afghanistan on the basis that the Taliban was engaged in human rights abuses, despite the fact that the Taliban was supported by the Saudi royal family. Does the Minister believe it is acceptable for us to make our philosophy to suit our financial ambitions?

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