Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tensions between the European Union and Belarus have increased since a Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk and a Belarusian journalist was taken off a flight. Since 23 May the journalist and his girlfriend have been detained in Belarus. This journalist ran a blog that was in opposition to the current Belarusian leader, Mr. Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994. The main opposition leader against Mr. Lukashenko in the country's elections last year said that a lawyer who visited the couple said they were fine. Yet, it was doubtful because for sure the journalist was tortured and beaten. He was charged with organising riots, a charge that carries a potential sentence of 15 years. A day after he was arrested the journalist said he was confessing, but observers said the statement appeared to be forced.

When the Belarusian strongman plucked a dissident journalist out of the sky he proved two things. The first is that his 27-year grip on power is unhindered by international isolation. The second is that in the absence of meaningful action by the United States and Europe, whose citizens were among the passengers on the hijacked flight, nothing will change. It now appears that the journalist has been beaten and forced to confess to organising mass riots. As many Ministers in this country have said, this is nothing short of an act of piracy. It has also been said that we have to ensure the journalist and his partner need to be protected in every way possible.

We also need to look at our country and the incident that happened off the coast of Castletownbere last Friday, which was nothing short of an act of piracy. A Spanish trawler tried to ram into an Irish fishing vessel. It was a scandal to say the least. Regardless of all the pleas for help to our Naval Service to save our Irish vessel, it was left for 12 or 14 hours before any actions took place and the Spanish trawler had taken off. Acts of piracy can take place in the air and on our seas, and they can go unhindered. We need a strong Government to be able to act with our partners in Europe to ensure our skies are monitored and actions like this never recur. We also need our Government to act and support our fishing vessels off Castletownbere when our citizens are in danger and continue to be in danger.

Today, the Taoiseach made a false statement about me in the Dáil. I would appreciate if he retracted that statement. He said I had been ringing him seeking favours. I never rang the man in my entire life, to be honest, but that is another issue for another day.

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