Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In recent weeks, we have seen from Amnesty International and a number of other global human rights agencies, further details of the continued genocide against the Uyghur people by the Chinese Communist Party. The oppression of a minority, of course, is nothing new. We know how the Tibetan people have been subjected to brutal persecution and repression for decades. We have seen throughout the past year the introduction of the national security law and how China has crushed press and legal freedoms in Hong Kong and detained political opponents and dissidents there. On Wednesday of next week, outside the convention centre, there will be a protest by practitioners of Falun Gong. They will highlight the Chinese Communist Party's ongoing persecution of minorities. We know only too well in this House, as we have discussed this before, the issues surrounding the summary detention of Richard O'Halloran, and we have seen others detained by the Chinese Communist Party.

I would hope that The Irish Timeswould give as much attention in its editorials as it has in its advertising to the Chinese Communist Party. I am calling again for us to have a debate on China, our relationships with China and human rights abuses by the Communist Party, including issues surrounding the belt and road strategy. I welcome the fact that the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Chambers, has confirmed to me that there will be no official Government representation at the Beijing Winter Olympics but I still believe the Government should go further and support others and other countries that have been calling for the Beijing Olympics to be moved.

We also need to start to call out those who are embarrassing Ireland at a European level by apologising for the actions of the Chinese Communist Party and those MEPs who have condoned the human rights abuses of the Communist Party. It is no surprise they have done so because they have backed Lukashenko, Assad and Maduro. We need to call them out in the same way I have in this House called out Fine Gael for its being previously allied in the European People's Party, EPP, with Viktor Orbán. Those who sit on the left in the European Parliament need to decide whether they are on the side of human rights or on the side of the Chinese Communist Party, and we need to make that call now.