Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are many things I could say about the roll-out of the vaccination programme, the role of AstraZeneca and various Deputies calling on the Government to engage with AstraZeneca rather than looking at the contracts, as outlined by a Fine Gael Deputy. I have only two and a half minutes so I will focus on three topics.

I note the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is to come back to us on one item on the agenda for the Council meeting, namely, relations with Turkey. Does he propose to raise the unilateral withdrawal of Turkey from the Istanbul Convention? We are ten years on from signing it, which we struggled to do and had to be prompted to do. It is took us some time to ratify that convention and now Turkey has unilaterally withdrawn from it, with no discussion in Parliament at a time when the figures there on domestic violence and violence generally against women have risen astronomically.

I thank the Taoiseach for his detailed speech but there was an absence of any reference to Myanmar, formerly Burma. Will that issue be raised in Europe? As we speak, the figures are frightening. As of 22 March, 261 people, including children, are confirmed to have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 2,682 people, and rising, have been arrested, and a total of 2,302 are still under detention. Restriction of time prevents me going on. There is a very serious situation in Myanmar, as the Minister of State will know. I profess that I have a conflict in the sense that when I was Mayor of Galway, we gave Aung San Suu Kyi freedom of the city, which has since been taken from her. There is an intimate connection between Myanmar and Ireland. Myanmar secured its freedom in 1948, when we declared a Republic which became operational the following year. I ask the Minister of State to make reference to that in his concluding remarks.

On Cuba, I understand it is developing five vaccines and that one will be ready in July. Has it occurred to the Government to think outside of the box and look to Cuba, an island that has been subjected to what I would regard as an illegal trade embargo for a long time, and yet has managed to keep the death rate from Covid at 0.6% and is developing vaccines? I ask the Minister of State to address those three issues in his speech.

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