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

There was a particularly brutal crackdown on the media in the days leading up to the elections. Also, there was an increasingly volatile political climate. Last Wednesday Turkish police raided the offices of the main opposition media company and forced two television companies to close, yet the Minister said there was relative calm. It may appear that there was relative calm from this side of the Irish Sea, but what seemed to be happening in many communities was far from calm. Also, from what we saw on our television screens and reports coming back, clearly there was a problem.

The main focus of the last European Council meeting was on the issue of refugees. Many European governments are seeking to use Turkey as a bulwark against refugees seeking to reach the European Union. Is it now part of the narrative that for some reason we ignore Turkey's deplorable human rights record, especially against the Kurds, and its permanent role in the Syrian conflict in dealing with the issue of refugees? Many of the refugees fleeing Turkey are Kurds and sending them back would lead to the creation of even greater human rights violations. Is the Minister saying we are rewarding the Turkish Government for acting as a bulwark against refugees seeking to reach the European Union?

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