Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to reply to this matter. I ask him to imagine a situation where the Leas-Chathaoirleach was arrested and put in prison for two years and was then sentenced to 11 and a half years for the crime of arranging a parliamentary debate. This is what has happened to the speaker of the Catalan Parliament. We all know the history of what has happened over the past couple of years and how the Catalan people voted in their millions for independence on 1 October 2017. We were all shocked at the scenes of Spanish state police brutally destroying polling booths and hitting elderly frail people. My party had four witnesses who saw that first hand.

After that shocking display of state violence and repression, a number of Catalan leaders were put in pre-trial detention. We heard on Monday how nine of them have been sentenced to between nine and 13 years in prison. The former speaker, Ms Carme Forcadell, faces 11 and a half years in jail for allowing a debate on Catalan independence in parliament. The former vice president, the equivalent of our Tánaiste, Mr. Oriol Junqueras, faces 13 years for peacefully seeking independence for his nation. Several ministers have been sentenced to at least nine years. We now have a new warrant for Carles Puigdemont, who has been living in exile for the past few years, as are others who have been involved. The Spanish state has tried to have them arrested and extradited but it keeps losing these cases because the charges they face have no basis. They are ridiculous charges of sedition and rebellion.

The European Union is supposed to stand for certain important values, such as democracy, freedom and human rights. Recently, we heard the European Commission quite rightly condemned the Polish Government for interfering with its judiciary and we have heard it speak out directly against the awful migration policies of the Hungarian Government.However, there is a conspiracy of silence when it comes to what is happening in Catalonia. No one wants to say anything. Peaceful people have been imprisoned and sentenced to between nine and 13 years. All they did was arrange a peaceful referendum. The equivalent of the Leas-Chathaoirleach has been imprisoned for arranging a debate in a parliament. This is a watershed moment for the EU. How can it have any credibility to speak about freedom, dignity and human rights when it turns its backs on the Catalan people and this horrific repression?

The Minister of State is standing in for another Minister today, but I hope that he will agree that dialogue is the way forward. Currently, we are consumed by Brexit and are hopeful of a good outcome. That hope is based on dialogue. The Spanish state has set its face against dialogue and has set itself on a course of imprisonment and repression of the Catalan people. Where is our Government in all of this? What message can the Minister of State give to the people of Catalonia? What message speaking of human rights and freedom can we hear from him? It would mean much to the Catalan people if he were to acknowledge that dialogue must be the way forward. I hope that he will give a message that, at least here in Ireland, we remember the values of free speech and democracy and that we value the right of the Catalan people to have their say on their future.