Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Chinese regime is a repressive and authoritarian regime. It is a country with very few democratic rights. I was struck by the decision to close all access for the public to the Phoenix Park to facilitate this meeting. It was not just to facilitate the meeting, because one could have had lots of people in the Phoenix Park and the meeting could have gone ahead, but to facilitate the meeting happening without expressions of protest about what is happening in China. Was that a request of the Chinese administration that this would happen? How did that occur?

What was the response of the Premier to the points raised by the Taoiseach on the repression within China? In particular I want to raise the situation of the Uyghur people. At the height of the repression of the Uyghur people, which is a denial of culture, a denial and discrimination against language and a definite denial of any question of self-determination, there were maybe up to 1 million Uyghur people in prison or in some form of detention without any trial. The repression seems to continue. A report just last year from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that since 2017 the Chinese Government had committed grave rights violations against millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic people in Xinjiang. The report found that these abuses were so systematic and widespread that they "may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity". Did the Taoiseach put points like that to the Premier and what was the response?

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