Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas le gach duine a labhair sa díospóireacht seo. Members have rightly condemned the actions of the Lukashenko regime. It is important that we have spoken with one voice, across all parties, against the Lukashenko regime and in full support of the ordinary people of Belarus, both those in the country itself and those who can no longer live there and who had to flee to other countries. The diversion of the Ryanair flight to Minsk under transparently false pretences, a ruse, recklessly endangered lives. This outrage joins the countless thousands of other incidents that have brought sorrow to individuals and families in Belarus and among its diaspora. The motion provides an opportunity to clearly express what is happening in Belarus. It is something the whole House finds unacceptable.

Members have spoken about the quick action on this issue. Lukashenko chose the wrong weekend to do this as the European Council was meeting the following day. The Council had no option but to take the strongest possible action, which was called for by everybody, and it did so. That is important because it sends a strong message to authoritarian regimes all around the world. It says that they cannot do this and get away with it. That cannot happen.

Ireland will always play a constructive role in the EU's strong response to the unacceptable actions at Minsk. This happened at last week's meeting of the European Council. The Taoiseach was involved in quite a number of bilateral engagements with colleagues in addition to attending engagements around the Council table. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I also had bilateral contacts, including contacts with the Belarusian opposition. I was glad to take to take a phone call from Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, one of the leaders of the opposition in Belarus, in the immediate aftermath of the incident. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Taoiseach also had many engagements.

The individual sanctions up to now have clearly not been effective because, had they been, they would have prevented this incident. We now seek to target the wallets of the regime and its supporters. We will continue to monitor our broader relations with Belarus, including involvement in the Eastern Partnership mechanism. Our support for the people is clear and unequivocal. We keep the people of Belarus to the fore in all of our efforts. The EU has diverted funds away from the authorities in Belarus and directed them to civil society. Neighbouring member states have given refuge to those who have had to flee Lukashenko's repression and have supported scholarships for Belarusian students who have been removed from universities for expressing their views.

I pay tribute to the three Baltic states and to Poland, the states most directly affected by the actions of Lukashenko and those that have the most dealings with him. It is very dangerous to be a neighbour of Belarus and these states are particularly concerned. I express solidarity not only with Belarus and its people, but with the country's neighbours as well.

Through the European Endowment for Democracy, Ireland has given money towards projects that seek to protect human rights and media freedoms in Belarus. We continue to do what we can to support these projects. I welcome the positive vision for a future democratic Belarus, which the European Commission has outlined in recent days. The EU has offered €3 billion in funding for an economic stabilisation package, which contrasts sharply with Lukashenko's offer of further repression, corruption, economic stagnation and poverty. Under Lukashenko, escape from the country is all its people can hope for.

Let me be clear that the EU and Ireland are not playing geopolitics. We do not want to alter the orientation of Belarusian foreign relations. All we want is a prosperous stable neighbour that has full respect for the human rights of its citizens, democratic principles and the rule of law. Those three concerns are, of course, central to participation in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. As a participating state, Belarus has committed to those principles. It needs to return to, and stick to, those commitments. The chairpersonship and office of the OSCE have offered to facilitate meaningful, broad-based, inclusive national dialogue with the political opposition and civil society. This needs to happen.

Belarus is also a member of the UN, as has been mentioned. I remind the House that the preamble to the UN Charter reaffirms "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person". From the repressive acts we have seen taking place, it is clear that those principles have no home in Lukashenko's Belarus. Belarus must acknowledge its international obligations and fully engage with the investigation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A care for human rights is at the core of our engagement with the wider world.

We take that care for human rights in regard to all of our relations around the world. Our words and deeds have been consistent with this focus and we continue to seek a peaceful and democratic resolution to the crisis. It is essential that the harassment and suppression of the political opposition in Belarus be brought to an end. All of Belarusian society, at home and abroad, needs to be part of creating a new and prosperous future in Belarus, including those who support Lukashenko. This is why dialogue, people coming together and having free and fair elections are so important.

The Belarus opposition is a broad-based movement. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is the international figurehead of the movement. She has never claimed to be the sole representative, but it is worth recalling her links with this country, having come here as a Chernobyl child to escape that particular accident and to get rehabilitation and treatment, along with many other children. She continued to come here after that to help other children affected and, I believe, she worked in this country as well. Like Belarus, she has very strong links with Ireland. Those links date back to ancient history, through migration in very ancient times. There are some similarities between the Irish Celtic languages and Slavic languages. There are other members of the opposition as well under the Coordination Council established by Ms Tikhanovskaya, including the former Minister for Culture, Pavel Latushko, Maria Kalesnikava and the Nobel laureate, Svetlana Alexievich. All have either left the country or have been detained by the Lukashenko regime.

The European Parliament has rightly recognised the Coordination Council's courageous and peaceful defence of democracy and human rights by awarding it the 2020 Sakharov prize for freedom of thought. The Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I have all commended Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for her personal bravery. As I said, she knows this country well. We have extended an invitation for her to visit Ireland. It is expected that that may happen in July when public health conditions permit. We look forward to welcoming her back to our shores in the near future. I hope that there will be an opportunity for her to visit Tipperary on that occasion as well.

I want to acknowledge the many Belarusian people who now call Ireland home, some of whom I met today and previously. They have worked tirelessly to maintain public awareness of the situation in the country of their birth. Many Irish people have close personal ties to Belarus, as mentioned in the debate. The Government has received a large volume of communications from Irish citizens about the situation in Belarus. I assure them that we are doing all we can to help the people of Belarus.

A number of issues were raised in the debate. It is slightly unfortunate that some people chose to raise other issues that are not directly related to this matter. On the European Union, the Government is very strong on the importance of the rule of law within the Union. There is no comparison to be made between Belarus and any member state and no comparison to be made with regard to the flight in Austria, which was mentioned by a couple of Deputies. On that occasion the President of Austria had breakfast with the President of Bolivia on the aeroplane. There is no comparison whatsoever in the two situations.

Last week, this House spoke with one voice on the Israel-Palestine situation. We need to continue to speak in one voice. We should not in a foreign policy discussion here say that we support something, but what about something else? This country's interests have been always well served when we speak with one voice on foreign policy, be that in regard to Brexit, most famously over the past number of years or the Israel-Palestine situation on which we made history last week and spoke with one voice. Speaking with one voice today gives us incredible strength.

It appears that nobody is opposing the motion and that it is unanimously supported by Members. I very much welcome that. I would welcome it if, as I expect, the motion will be passed unanimously without the need for a vote.

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