Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Tá a lán rudaí ráite sa díospóireacht seo, rudaí atá tábhachtach. An rud is tábhachtaí ar fad ná go bhfuil díospóireacht againn sa Teach seo. Dúirt Seanadóirí Daly agus Ó Murchú cé chomh tábhachtach agus atá sé go mbeadh daoine sna tíortha beaga ag cur a gcuid machnamh isteach in ábhair thábhachtacha mar seo. There is a long tradition of recognition of the importance of the influence of representatives of smaller countries. This is an incremental debate happening in small countries throughout the world so that in international fora such as the United Nations it is not left to the huge nations of the world to influence this decision. The Irish representative, whether he be the Minister for Foreign Affairs or an ambassador, can state that the Houses in our Parliament unanimously supported movement on the matter. That is important.

I cannot add much to what has been said about Burma but I would like to raise the issue of China. It is the most important player in this area. When I look at Asia, two things stand out. India is a democracy of 1 billion people who have been voting in democratic elections for 60 years. No other country with such underdeveloped regions has managed to do that. China, however, is blatantly in breach of every regulation we hold dear in the civilised word, be they regulations related to environmental or health and safety standards or civil rights. That is the reality.

I do not agree with Senator Norris that we should use the Olympic games as leverage in this area but I also do not agree with Senator Ó Murchú nár chóir dúinn iad a úsáid in aon chor. Caithfidh go dtuigfimid seo — fad agus atásportspeople from all over the world involved in activities in China, down the road there are harmless, innocent, non-violent groups, such as Falun Gong, that have no interest in undermining the Government, or causing difficulties to the state, that are not even religious in nature but simply oppose violence, that are being persecuted, imprisoned and used for medical experiments and organ harvesting. We in Ireland should bring that to people's attention.

Next week the Olympic torch will pass through Ireland and I will take that opportunity to remind the Chinese Government what it is doing in the same way that we are reminding the Burmese Government. We must make our views known on these situations. Over 100,000 people went out on the streets of this country to show their abhorrence at the invasion of Iraq. None us expected that number of people, they came out of nowhere. We thought the usual crowd would turn up but it was multiplied 1,000 fold. It is important to know that represented people's views. We must incrementally put together the views of others like us who are not world powers to influence developments.

As we look forward to a debate on Europe next year, this will be an important issue. We have never had a real debate on neutrality. I come from a left wing position on this but I have argued with members of both the left and the right about the meaning of neutrality and what we should do when we see something wrong. Should we be proud that we stood back while Hitler was killing millions of Jews? Should we be proud that we did nothing while Pol Pot killed off hundreds of thousands of intellectuals? Can we tell our grandchildren that we were pure, virginal and neutral? Is that what we mean by our neutrality? I do not think so. Neutrality has an active imperative that requires us to act to express our feelings. I would like to see that debate take place next year in a way that will recognise, protect and respect Ireland's sovereignty. The two are not mutually exclusive.

This debate was important and I thank the Deputy Leader of the House for responding so quickly for requests from this side of the House for such a discussion, in spite of what Members on the Government side said this morning. It is important that we state our views on these issues.