Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the continued human rights violations in Bahrain, particularly against medics; and the formal steps that he has taken to inform the Bahraini Government of its views in relation to these human rights violations. [45096/12]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will formally condemn and further call upon the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Medical Council of Ireland to unreservedly condemn the arrest, sentencing and ill treatment of a number of Bahraini medics, who were trained by the RCSI at its university in Bahrain (details supplied); if he will publicly call for their convictions to be immediately overturned and for the Bahraini authorities to show compassion and humanity; if he will call upon the King of Bahrain to intervene and correct the injustices committed, by commuting the prison sentences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45198/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 5 together.

I have made clear to the House on numerous occasions that all charges against the medical professionals should have been dropped. Given the great concerns and doubts that surrounded the case of the medics from the start, and particularly in light of the well-documented reports of ill-treatment to which many of those originally detained were subject, the Bahraini Government should consider exercising clemency and releasing those medical professionals who have now been imprisoned. Such an act of clemency would also be very much in the wider interests of promoting urgently needed reconciliation and national dialogue within Bahrain. I urge King Hamad and the Bahraini Government to take account of the widespread international concerns that exist and to agree to release those now imprisoned following the verdict in the Court of Cassation.

On a more general level, the Government has repeatedly conveyed its concerns at every suitable opportunity to the Bahraini authorities about the human rights situation in Bahrain, including our concerns about the case of the medical professionals as well as that of the respected human rights defender, Abdulhadi Al Khawaja. We have repeatedly raised these cases with the Bahraini ambassador in London and through our ambassador in Riyadh who is accredited to Bahrain. Officials in my Department again conveyed our strong concerns to the Bahraini authorities through diplomatic channels after the Court of Cassation's decision on 1 October upholding the prison sentences against the medical professionals.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Medical Council are independent organisations involved to varying degrees in the education of medical professionals in Bahrain. It is important to distinguish between the involvement of Irish institutions in the education and training of Bahraini medical personnel, which is entirely positive both for this country and Bahrain, and the case of the imprisoned Bahraini doctors.

The RCSI, in particular, felt its efforts would be more effective if it engaged in private dialogue with the Bahraini authorities rather than in the public sphere. All the organisations concerned kept my Department informed of their efforts and views on Bahrain. I met the chief executive of the RCSI to discuss political developments and the college's role in Bahrain. I note the RCSI has commented publicly on numerous occasions about the case of the Bahraini medics and urged the Bahraini Government to withdraw the sentences and release the medics. The RCSI has also written to the King of Bahrain asking him to drop the charges against the medics.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I thank the Tánaiste for his detailed answer. The case, which has drawn international criticism, saw nine doctors convicted for their roles in last year's pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain. The uprising did not seek the violent overthrow of the regime but demanded democratic constitutional monarchy and recognition of human rights. Three of those sentenced were doctors trained by the RCSI and were given outrageous sentences, ranging from one month to 15 years, by a military tribunal. A Bahraini independent commission of inquiry later found that, in many cases, those arrested were subjected to serious human rights abuses. These included beatings, blindfolding, handcuffing and beating with wooden planks. The hospital was under lockdown, with nurses beaten. While I commend the RCSI in Ireland on supporting the recommendation for the development of a national reconciliation programme in Bahrain and for offering to assist in every possible way to advance the building of the programme, the question remains why the RCSI and the Royal College of Physicians stood apart from international human rights organisations such as Front Line Defenders, Médecins Sans Frontières, Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights when they condemned the Bahrain authorities. A legal team of Irish human rights lawyers, Ceartas, is examining the RCSI involvement with the Bahraini Government during the 2011 uprising, following claims that the RCSI college in Bahrain, in which the RCSI has invested €60 million, interrogated their students and asked some to sign a pledge of allegiance to the regime. I have spoken to Médecins sans Frontières and human rights groups and it seems this did happen. Does the Tánaiste have any comment?

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The RCSI is an independent organisation and an internationally renowned medical school attracting international students from more than 60 countries. It has a student population of 4,000 people and employs more than 850 people globally, 80% of whom are graduates. I am responsible to the House for the response of the Irish Government to the situation in Bahrain. My concerns, the concerns of the Government and the concerns of the Irish people in respect of the human rights situation in Bahrain and the arrest, trial and imprisonment of the medics have been conveyed in clear terms through our ambassador in Riyadh and to the Bahraini Embassy and its ambassador in London.

We have also been pressing Bahrain in multilateral forums to undertake human rights reform. At the most recent session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, we raised our concerns about the grave allegations of mistreatment, amounting to torture, of detainees that were documented in the report of the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry and we urged Bahrain to take further steps to implement in full the recommendations of the report of the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry.

At the previous session of the Human Rights Council in June, Ireland made a joint statement with 26 other countries urging Bahrain to enhance its co-operation with the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. At Bahrain's universal periodic review in May, Ireland recommended that all decisions by the national security courts should be subject to review in ordinary courts and that laws should be enacted to prohibit civilians being tried in military courts.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I congratulate the Tánaiste on that. I accept that he has taken those actions. As we speak, however, nurses and doctors are being intimidated in Bahrain. Some of them did not take part in the protest but merely provided treatment in hospital to people who had been injured in the demonstration.

Surely someone must be held accountable if Irish trained doctors are being imprisoned for speaking out against a regime that opposes human rights. I congratulate the Tánaiste on the contacts he has made, but his words seem to be falling on deaf ears. My information, gained in the last number of days, is that nurses and doctors who treated people who took part in the demonstrations are still being mistreated in Bahrain.