Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this Private Members’ motion. It is almost 12 months since this House unanimously agreed a motion in regard to the unlawful detention of Richard O'Halloran, an Irish citizen in detention in China. As Senator Craughwell said, Richard O'Halloran should be at home and if diplomatic relations were working properly, he would be at home. There is no reason that the Chinese authorities could not let Richard O'Halloran go and it would still be in consultation on the issue with the Irish Government if things were working properly.

As I said, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. A lot has been said about human rights in China and we all know the human rights issues that exist there. As a people, the Irish people like the Chinese. They are like the Irish people as they are industrious, hard-working people and great to work on their own initiative. It is sad to see the human rights issues the Chinese people tell us about. There is a significant Chinese population in this country. There were nearly 100,000 Chinese people here during the boom, although it could be somewhat fewer at perhaps 50,000 or 60,000 now. Many have very good, solid businesses, with many in the catering area. They run a great show and they are very hard-working, like the Taiwanese people.

I have visited both China and Taiwan. The Taiwanese people are equally as industrious. They have a great country of 24 million people. I was very disappointed with the World Health Organization at the start of the pandemic. The Taiwanese were the world leaders in regard to combating Covid-19 yet the World Health Organisation did not see fit to invite them to some of the world health conferences that took place and did not feel the Taiwanese should have an input, as they should have had an input. They were the world leaders and probably are still world leaders today. That goes to show what goes on.

The Minister of State was quite right in his speech when he said that we are a Parliament and, therefore, we are different from the Executive and different from the Government.It is only right that we pass this motion. I believe it will be passed unanimously. There should be no interference with, or pressure brought to bear on, this Parliament in respect of what we say or who we wish to represent in respect of the Taiwan-China situation. That has happened. A number of us in this House were invited to Taiwan and we were put under pressure not to go. We were told that trade deals were going down between Ireland and China and that it was not in the best interests of this country for a delegation from here to go to Taiwan. Senator Wilson, former Senators Michelle Mulherin and Paudie Coffey, Deputy Carey and I were all to be part of that delegation but some of those people did not travel as a result of pressure from our Government and the Chinese office. I would not like to see such a situation arise again. Three of us did go but if we had not, what would the situation have been? It would have been a massive victory for the Chinese against the Taiwanese. That is not on. The Government of the day should not have got involved in that. As Senator McDowell has quite rightly pointed out, we are a Parliament and are separate from the Executive, that is, the Government.

The Government closed down the office in Taiwan. We should open it up again. That should be a priority for the Government. A lot of trade could take place. As the Minister of State said in his speech, there is €1 billion in trade annually between Taiwan and Ireland. Taiwan is big in the whiskey industry and we are big producers of whiskey. We have several world-leading brands in this country. The Taiwanese are big drinkers of whiskey and they produce a lot of whiskey. There are also many other areas in which we could have a significant amount of trade. From speaking to people in the Taiwanese office, I have no doubt but that we could seriously increase trade with Taiwan. The Minister of State does a magnificent job in travelling around, maintaining our relationships with various countries around the world and opening up trade opportunities. I beg him to ask the Government to reopen that office. That would be a very good step.