Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Two weeks ago, Ministers scattered to the four corners of the earth for St. Patrick's Day. We all saw the pictures from New York and Washington, but I want to refer to some visits that received rather less media attention. I am interested in, for example, the visit of the Minister of State, Deputy Josepha Madigan, to Qatar, a country where homosexuality is illegal under threat of sentence of death. I am interested in the same Minister of State's trip to the United Arab Emirates, a country in which the United Nations has warned that torture is being used. I am interested in Hong Kong, which was visited by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in the very week when some of the 10,000 people arrested two years ago for protesting to defend democratic rights were being tried. I could make a strong argument as to why none of those visits to countries run by dictatorial regimes should have gone ahead, but I would hope, at the very minimum, that strong protests were registered by the representatives of the Irish people. Can the Taoiseach tell us where I can obtain a report on these visits, including a report on who Ministers met and what was said?

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