Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thought the Acting Chairman was going to give me four minutes of Fine Gael time as well.

I welcome the strong remarks by the Taoiseach, the Minister of State and other Government representatives on the actions of the Hungarian Government. As the previous speaker said, it is never too late to do right. It is, however, disappointing it took so long for the Irish Government to take a stand against the Fidesz party, especially when we consider that one of the Government parties was in the same grouping in the European Parliament, happily accepting Fidesz votes when running for positions. The truth is that when a former MEP, Senator Lynn Boylan, and others indicated as far back as 2015 the actions and natural outworking of such actions of the Fidesz party in Hungary, they were met by deafening silence from Fine Gael MEPs and the Irish Government. I welcome the remarks and strong assertions by Government representatives over the past week but I hope we learn that we do not always have to wait until others publicly pronounce on these matters before an Irish Government can take a stand.

A perfect place for us to take a stand is against another European government in breach of all basic tenets of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. I am referring to the Spanish Government in respect of the people of Catalonia. I welcome that last week the Spanish Government pardoned with conditions elected representatives who had been imprisoned. We should remember their crime, which was allowing people to vote and express their views. When those people went to vote, they were met with a violent and oppressive reaction from the Spanish state. The elected representatives who organised a vote in line with their pre-election commitments were imprisoned for that. Many of those representatives are still in exile. The Irish Government has not yet stood up for the democratic rights of those elected representatives.

In the past 24 hours, we have learned that the Spanish Court of Auditors, forced through public pressure to release those political prisoners, is finding an alternative avenue of penalisation with financial penalties. Again, this is for those people doing as they promised they would if elected. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past but instead take a stand as a small nation that has itself fought for the right to self-determination over several centuries. We are uniquely and ideally placed to be an advocate for democratic values and self-determination for the Catalan people and all others.

I ask the Minister of State, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste not to wait until others get in ahead of us so we can cling to their apron straps. Let us take a stand as the proud nation we are in solidarity with another proud nation and the people of Catalonia. Let us face up to the Spanish Government and tell it the values we have espoused so articulately over the past week apply to big member states as well as small member states. They apply to political parties regardless of political group alignments in the European Parliament. Let us tell the Spanish Government that the Irish people stand firmly and squarely on the side of self-determination. It would be an honourable and brave action for us to take.

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