Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to speak. One of the best things we can do as parliamentarians is to call out the truth as we receive it. I have connections with some people in Belarus and with organisations that work there. I will use my time to call out the truth of their experience and what they report, some of which has been mentioned in this debate.

I want to begin by remembering Kim Samusenka who is in prison. He is a prisoner I sponsor and have written to. His brother is sponsored by Senator Joe O'Reilly. They are in prison for no reason other than that they believe in freedom of expression. That is appalling. I also want to remember the leader of the Office of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Siarhei Drazdouski, who, along with his lawyer, was arrested on 2 February this year, again just for speaking out on behalf of people with disabilities. He is still in prison and untried in any way. They have both been subjected to interrogations and humiliating behaviour and treatment.

One of the topical issues in Ireland all of the time is Covid.What of the people of Belarus during the Covid pandemic? A very small proportion of its population is vaccinated, just 1.5 million out of 10 million. The only vaccines available to them are Sputnik V and the Chinese vaccine. There is a natural reluctance to be vaccinated with either of those because of a mistrust of Russia and because very little of the Chinese vaccine has been available. Some 2,275 NGOs have been closed down or will be shut down. Many of these organisations deal with issues of disability. One of these organisations, the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has now been shut down.

Another issue that has been talked about a great deal tonight is that of the weaponising of migrants. The EU really needs to mount a humanitarian response. As has been said, these people should not be weaponised. We should open our borders with compassion. There are fears as to what is happening with these migrants at the borders with Poland and Lithuania.

A journalist working with activists on the ground has said that people are being kept in very unsanitary and inhumane conditions and that they are kept in very close quarters in prisons in which the Delta variant is spreading like wildfire. Covid is really bad.

I will end on positive news. Chernobyl Children International is an organisation very close to my own heart. It is an honour for me to be in any way associated with it. It continues its humanitarian efforts on the ground. It is managing all of its programmes in Belarus remotely, ensuring that vulnerable children and families are cared for and protected at this precarious time. I pay tribute to the organisation and to the work of Adi Roche. Its lifesaving cardiac programme is resuming in Ukraine, having been paused for two years due to the Covid pandemic and the travel restrictions. While there have been no surgeries, the organisation welcomes this really good development and interaction. Its paediatric cardiac team will not only be performing lifesaving surgeries on newborns and young children, but will also provide a full training course for local surgeons. It wants to leave a footprint of expertise behind. I will just end on that little bit of good news in the midst of all the bad news this evening.