Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A number of Deputies including Deputies Haughey, Brady and Bacik have raised the Iranian situation. The death of a number of women and girls and the underlying human rights situation for women and girls in Iran stand to be condemned. It is of deep concern. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has twice raised the specific case of Mahsa Amini and the unjustified response to peaceful protestors directly with the Iranian Foreign Minister and has called in the Iranian ambassador. He has also raised with the Iranian ambassador concerns for the safety and welfare of Elnaz Rekabi, the Iranian rock climber who could face charges in Iran for not wearing a head scarf while competing at an event in South Korea. Iran's supply of weaponry to Russia, which Deputy Haughey referenced, is directly contributing to violations of international law. Last Thursday the European Union adopted additional targeted sanctions to add three Iranian individuals and one entity involved in the development and delivery of drones to Russia.

More will be added in the coming days.

The fundamental question of diplomatic relations applies to many states that engage in practices we do not approve of, but diplomacy is the last channel remaining to try to persuade people to do differently and to articulate our concerns, consistently raise issues and, into the future, try to develop channels to get a change in how people practise. It is a matter of the gravest of considerations to end diplomatic relations, particularly in a context where we decided only in more recent times to restore diplomatic relations with Iran and given we are working in the context of the UN Security Council on the nuclear file, endeavouring to get the six-party treaty in place, and get Iran, the US, the EU and so on involved in denuclearising any potential for nuclear weapons in Iran. Keeping our diplomatic channels open is very important to the realisation of our goals as members of the UN Security Council, especially since we were responsible for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, file at the Council.

I must take issue with Deputy Murphy's point. He said we are cynically using Putin's war to drive a coach-and-four through our neutrality. One might imagine we had contrived the war to enable us to do this. It is a shocking thing to say.

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