Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I add my endorsement to the comments around the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar and to offer solidarity to the LGBT community as that country should never have gotten the World Cup.

I also raise an issue around another country that is well-known for its human rights violations, namely, Egypt. As somebody who has gone to Egypt, has been in an Egyptian prison, and has spoken to members of families of the thousands of political prisoners who are there, it is unfortunate to see world leaders descend on Sharm el-Sheikh this week in the hope of a good outcome in the Conference of the Parties, COP27, negotiations. We all hope for good outcomes but this is clearly a practice of whitewashing the human rights abuses going on in that country.

Instead of easing the crackdown on civil society, President El-Sisi's dictatorship has actually ramped them up. Ahead of COP27, they have security agents and surveillance, the restricted green zone which was previously always open to the public and to civil society to engage in, has been locked down, and people's phones are being seized and their social media accounts monitored.

I have particular concerns for the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel El-Fattah who is on hunger strike. He has been imprisoned since 2011 and there are huge concerns around his welfare as he embarked on a hunger strike and then a water strike in the past number of days. His family do not know or cannot get confirmation of whether he is even still alive at this point.

It is deeply disappointing that COP27 is being hosted by a country that has such a poor track record in terms of human rights violations and has thousands of political prisoners who are held in the most barbaric conditions. I was inside the prison and met the families. I also had my car followed by the security surveillance. I want to offer solidarity to all of the Egyptian civil society who are not able to make their voices heard during this COP protest.