Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is not good enough any more to say these things are terrible or we support this motion or that motion at the United Nations but we avoid coming down on one side or the other as to whether the substance of this report is true or untrue.That is why the motion that was put in my name, and those of my colleagues, reads: "That Seanad Éireann notes the publication of the judgement of the Uyghur Tribunal on 9th December, 2021 and accepts its findings." It is a clear statement to China that this Chamber was saying that we believe what is in this report, we stand by it and we say that there is genocide, within the international definitions of genocide, and we condemn what we see.

To my shock and horror - I have a feeling of complete disappointment and a sense of abandonment - the Government has decided to remove from the motion tabled by me and my colleagues that we accept the findings of the report. It does not want this House to do that. It has decided to put in simply that the House further notes "continued deep concern in relation to evidence-based reports on the treatment of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang". It seeks to note "continued deep concern". That is not what this is about. People are actually being compulsorily aborted. Women are having IUDs put into them, which cannot be removed manually and require to be surgically removed. This is what is happening. To simply say that we note "continued deep concern in relation to evidence-based reports" is milk-and-watery pathetic language to use.

The amendment calls on "China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers". We know what is happening there. Putting in more observers from the UN is as about as useful as sending UN observers to Wuhan to discover how the Corona virus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory. Finally, the amendment urges "the immediate implementation of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s eight recommendations related to Xinjiang."

The substance of the Government's amendment is to avoid, at all costs, this Chamber saying we believe what is in this report, this is what is happening, we accept the report and this is the reality, as far as we are concerned, of what is happening in Xinjiang. Am I surprised that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Government are taking this line? No, I am not because it is part of a piece of constant capitulation to the wolf diplomacy of the Beijing regime. We had it in the case of Richard O'Halloran where we went on our knees to thank China at the end for its assistance in getting an Irish citizen back from years of detention.

Am I surprised? No, I am not. I am certainly not going to accept this amendment and I am going to make it as painful as possible for anybody to vote for this amendment because it is a disgrace, a low point and an abandonment of what we are about.

I will finish on this point. We had champagne pops and fizz when we got our place on the Security Council. Fine, I do not make much of an issue of that. Hard workers deserve that opportunity but I make this point. It is a mockery to look for a place on the Security Council of the United Nations if the Government will not accept the substance of this report.