Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to thank everybody for their patience and perseverance during the year, particularly the staff, the Leas-Chathaoirleach, the Leader and the Cathaoirleach, and to wish everybody a happy Christmas.

At the risk of sounding like Boris Johnson, can we get something done for the secretarial assistants? It is great that everyone signed the motion and it is fantastic we got the support. The pay rises have been outstanding for over a year and it is in the Government's hands to deal with this. I ask the Leader to ensure it is done. We cannot let these people down beyond the end of this parliamentary term.

On Christmas Day, Mohammed Ramadan and Husain Moosa are due to be executed. It is what Bahrain likes to do; it is a good day to bury bad news. These two men have been framed and forced to confess to terrorist charges. They were arrested without warrant, tortured into confessions and denied access to legal counsel. They are both due to be executed on Christmas Day by the Bahraini authorities.

Bahrain is one of the most wicked regimes anywhere in the world in terms of how it treats migrant workers - it is basically a slave economy - and how it treats women. If a woman gives birth in Bahrain, unless she is married to a Bahraini national, her children have no right to Bahraini citizenship. Yet, the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Breen, was out there last month, talking about the wonderful dynamic economy in Bahrain and how we can contribute to developing business with it. There was no mention of human rights, no mention of torture, and no mention of the fact two men are due to be executed - shot, most probably - on Christmas Day.

I am calling for a debate on the issue of Bahrain and on the broader issue of our foreign relations. This Government has lost its moral compass. We have seen how it has behaved in regard to Senator Frances Black's Bill, where it was appalling to see a Government standing up for an apartheid regime. Here, we have one of the most wicked regimes in the world, yet we see that our Minister of State is willing to ignore all sorts of horrific human rights abuses and just go touting for trade and business. Surely to God, any Government should be better than that.