Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was in Barcelona and Catalonia over the weekend as a guest of the Catalan Government and was accredited by its electoral commission, participating in a delegation of approximately 40 members of European countries' parliaments observing the election. I witnessed first-hand many disturbing scenes that we saw on the news over the weekend and spoke to many people who had been hit with plastic bullets and been beaten with batons, including an 83 year old man who, after being treated for his wounds, went back to the polling station and waited another six or seven hours to vote. I welcome, as Deputy Crowe has, the Taoiseach's remarks condemning the violence but it concerns me that the Government says that the substance of the difficulties in Catalonia are an internal matter for the Spanish state and that therefore the Government cannot interfere. That was not the Government's position on human rights and civil liberties in Poland or Hungary recently, or indeed in Myanmar. The Government has a long history of speaking up and advocating about foreign governments' actions when it feels that they are inappropriate. Will the Minister of State support the call of the Catalan Government to invite or to secure the European Union to intervene and to provide mediation between the Catalan Government and people and the Spanish Government to resolve the difficulties in that part of Europe?

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