Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's comments. I am one of 904 signatories, parliamentarians from 43 different countries, to a letter drafted by the former Governor of Hong Kong, Lord Patten, laying out our very serious concerns about the new security law in Hong Kong. That is a great starting point for this Government to look at what needs to be done. As the Minister knows, Ireland has a very particular relationship with Hong Kong. We all have friends who have lived there, many who were born there, others who have done business there and come back. We were in school with many people who grew up in Hong Kong. We have an expressed interest in this situation and we need to make sure that people in this country can be protected from what I can describe only as extremely draconian measures introduced by the Beijing Government in Hong Kong. I continue to encourage the Minister not only to maintain that open dialogue but also to work with European partners to discuss this and perhaps look at the examples of New Zealand, Australia and, perhaps not to as great an extent, the United Kingdom.

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