Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach may have seen reports in the past few days from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which I believe includes our The Irish Timesand Irish Examiner, as well as BBC's "Panorama" programme, in which they have confirmed that there is a vast network of concentration camps in Xinjiang, home of the Uighur nation in north-west China. They have confirmed a massive programme that seems to amount to a form of ethnic cleansing genocide is being perpetrated by the current Chinese regime against the Uighur nation. I have asked the Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, four or five times about this issue. Can we continue doing business with a regime that carries out this type of clearly fascist policy? We have also seen the repression of the 7 million people of Hong Kong recently. There are something like 12 million Uighurs. The Chinese ambassador was in this House only last week as part of a friendship group. All Deputies were assigned to different groups, including a Scandinavian group in my case. That was a friendship mission and yet the nation that the ambassador represents seems to be embarked on a form of genocide with this network of concentration camps. What can we do about this at European level and through our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade?

See this speech in context