Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate this matter being taken. I suppose people around the world were horrified, and rightly so, and condemned this Bill when it was put before the Ugandan Parliament. There were indications that President Museveni might refuse to sign this private members' legislation into law but he appears to have caved in to whatever pressures were in the country. It was interesting that a week before, there was a delegation from Uganda comprising both government and opposition sides and they indicated that this would not be brought into law. I do not know what pressures the Ugandan Government and Parliament are under but there is a right-wing, church-dominated agenda coming from some churches.

Uganda is a partnership country for Irish Aid. Where does that leave our relationship with Uganda? Do we still see Uganda as a reliable partner after the passing of this Bill despite the assurance that it would not pass it and in light of the misappropriation of aid money in 2012? I do not want aid to Uganda to stop but I want to hear what we are going to do. What message is Ireland sending? Will we continue to support civic society in Uganda? The nightmare question for many people was, if this was passed, what would be the roll-out? One newspaper has published up to 200 names to allow people to be intimidated, attacked, etc. What is the next step? It would be interesting to hear the Minister's views on that.

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