Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join with my colleague, Senator Ahearn, in calling for an invitation to be extended to our Ukrainian parliamentary colleagues. We saw terrible things there and the terrible devastation being wreaked by the Russian forces. The takeaway message for me, however, was the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian politicians. Their extraordinary determination to overcome this is actually very encouraging.We should be doing whatever we can to support them. The four messages that Senator Ahearn mentioned were repeated to us at meeting after meeting and I am pleased to say that Ireland has responded on most of those issues. The military issue remains a difficulty for us but in the other areas we have been supportive.

I would like to raise another international issue, namely, the installation of John Lee as the new Chief Executive of Hong Kong. He is the former Secretary for Security of Hong Kong and was sanctioned by the United States in 2020, primarily because of his involvement in enforcing the appalling national security law that exists in Hong Kong, which essentially removes the right of anybody to get involved in political opposition or protest. Under the then Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, he was foremost in enforcing that law and in cracking down on any vocalisation of opposition to the Hong Kong Government. We should consider sanctioning him in Ireland too. He was not elected but installed by a tiny committee that is controlled by Beijing. The extraordinary thing is that so many Irish people have lived in, worked in or are connected to Hong Kong. It is a place where we have many connections and we are watching it slip away as any kind of a normal society. I do not understand why the Chinese are doing it because they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg in terms of the capital that is flowing out of Hong Kong and I know about the difficulties ordinary people have there. Ireland should also be taking a stand and acknowledging the fact that John Lee's appointment or installation as Chief Executive is not valid, democratic or wanted because of his track record.

If the Leader is writing letters about correspondents, Dún Laoghaire does not have an RTÉ correspondent either. We are an important region and I do not seek to disagree with Senator Carrigy in any way. I would love to see an RTÉ correspondent in Dún Laoghaire as well.