Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her reply and her interest. To recap, what we see in Bahrain is a lack of proper independent oversight bodies and gerrymandering in elections and electoral areas. There is evidence of whitewashing of abuses, the attempt to rewrite history, revisionism in regard to what happened to people and an attempt to cloud it all out. We see persistent use of capital punishment and a crackdown on freedom of expression, including on online platforms. We have also heard reports of torture and denaturalisation, making people stateless when they speak up and call out the abuses.

What I would like to see the Government do when it makes the next approach is to call for a moratorium on the death penalty, reform of the accountability and oversight mechanisms, the release of all political prisoners and the reinstatement of the dissolved political parties. Without other political actors on the stage, there will not be any sort of fledgling or proper democracy. The Government should also call for freedom of expression and assembly. If the Government can take on board these reasonable core requests, I believe we will progress this matter in some small fashion.

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