Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Chinese regime is a brutal, totalitarian regime. It has engaged in across-the-board suppression of any dissent and wholesale persecution of certain groups. The Uyghurs were mentioned. In fact, it has been suggested that the Uyghurs are victims of a possible genocide and certainly victims of a really brutal suppression of an entire national and ethnic group. Did the Taoiseach raise that issue with the Chinese Premier?

I do not know much about the philosophy of Falun Gong adherents, and I doubt I would share much of that philosophy, but I know they are a persecuted group. People from that group who live in my area come into my office regularly and did so again recently to report what is happening. I wrote to the Tánaiste about it a while ago. Their relatives were grabbed and arrested because they are supporters of Falun Gong. That happens very regularly, with horrific accounts of the treatment of people who subscribe to that particular group. There is also the absolutely brutal suppression of democracy in Hong Kong. Anybody who articulates any dissent or opposition to the regime will suffer pretty brutal consequences. Did the Taoiseach raise those issues with the Chinese Premier?

The inconsistency of European Governments, including our own, on the principles of human rights is stark. We are very quick to jump up and down about the lack of respect for human rights of certain regimes but we say less about others, perhaps because we see it as in our economic interest to do so. China is one such regime, the United States is another and, for many years, Israel has been another. The list goes on and includes Saudi Arabia, etc. I would like to know what human rights issues the Taoiseach raised and what kind of response he got from the Chinese Premier.

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