Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Nine members of the Catalan Government have been arrested by the Spanish state and there are worrying reports with regard to the treatment by Spanish police of these members. Eight are currently imprisoned on sedition and rebellion charges, which carry significant terms of imprisonment. The Catalan President and four others are in Brussels, from where the Spanish state is seeking their extradition on the same charges. The entire Government, democratically elected by the citizens, has either been imprisoned or forced into exile by the Spanish Government. That is an absolutely mind-bending, shocking fact in the European Union of today.

To date, has the Taoiseach, the Irish Government or the EU clearly condemned what has happened? The Taoiseach said it was not discussed at the European Council meeting. Did he not raise it or seek to raise it at that meeting? What we are seeing is the wholesale corrosion of democracy in a partner country, a country that is an equal member partner of the EU. My understanding is that the response from the State and the EU has been silence. That silence, I believe, is a blot on the record of Irish democracy. I ask the Taoiseach why he did not raise it. Will he condemn what is happening in Spain?

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