Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I absolutely understand. In fact, I visited Colombia a number of years ago on a climate exchange and I was absolutely aware of the range of different issues around the extractive industries in Colombia and the human rights and other elements of it.

As I said, the Department and I do not have a direct role but the Department of Foreign Affairs does. It has been following developments closely with regard to this mine and trying to support human rights defenders to support open civil society space and protection and promotion of fundamental rights and freedoms in Colombia.

I understand personnel from our embassy in Bogotá have visited the regions of La Guajira, where the mine is located, and the mine itself. The embassy has also maintained regular contact with all relevant stakeholders in order to gain greater understanding of the circumstances and issues around the mine. It has also engaged directly with stakeholders through the EU delegation in Colombia.

This is the appropriate way of doing it and we are engaged in that process. We are in a particularly difficult position as we had to stop the importation of Russian coal. My understanding is that Moneypoint, where the coal is used, can only take certain types of coal, and that is why it has turned to this Colombian contract again. I absolutely agree that we must look at the human rights aspect. Our embassy in Bogotá is doing a very good job in that regard.

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