Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The peace-loving international community has been transfixed in recent years by the sheer horror of what we have seen happening in Palestine and in Ukraine. However, there are many other places in the world where all is also not well. Has our Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs and, indeed, our Department of foreign affairs in consultation with our European partners, been looking at the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan, for example, under the tyranny of the Taliban regime? Have we looked at what has been happening in Belarus where in January of this year in a faux election Lukashenko was elected with 88% of the vote? Some of us here would have loved to get level of support in the past and we could not manage it. It is hard to believe Europe's last remaining dictator is still in power after 31 years. Has the Taoiseach or the Minister for foreign affairs had any contact with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the real leader of the Belarusian people, who is living in exile in Lithuania?

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