Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. The Department of Foreign Affairs, including through the consul general in Hong Kong, has been following Jimmy Lai's situation closely, including his forthcoming trial on charges relating, as the Senator has referred to, the national security law. This trial is scheduled to begin on 18 December, although I understand from the Department that there may be a further delay to proceedings. Mr. Lai and a number of his colleagues at Apple Newshave been detained since 2021. Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs have had contact with Mr. Lai's legal team in this period. They are also closely following other cases, both media and non-media related, in Hong Kong, including the Stand Newscase, where verdicts are scheduled to be delivered in the coming weeks and the trial of the Hong Kong 47, HK47, which began earlier this year.

We remain seriously concerned by the impact of the national security law on fundamental freedoms and by the decline in democratic values, media freedom and freedom of expression in Hong Kong since its introduction. lreland and our EU partners have consistently expressed grave concern about the effects of the national security law, including in the form of the Foreign Affairs Council conclusions in July 2020. In a further signal of Ireland's concern the Government took the decision to suspend the extradition treaty with Hong Kong in October 2020.

Ireland has also consistently raised its concerns in relation to developments in Hong Kong directly with the authorities in Beijing and in Hong Kong itself. On 7 November, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs met with foreign minister, Wang Yi, in Beijing and set out lreland's long-standing position on human rights. This included our specific concerns around fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong as well as other broader human rights issues including in relation to Xinjiang.

As a newly re-elected member to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ireland calls on China to respect fundamental freedoms and international law, including when it comes to preventing the erosion of the rights and freedoms in Hong Kong guaranteed by the one country, two systems principle.

Ireland has also voiced its concerns on many occasions in multilateral fora. Most recently, we reiterated our concern about the impacts of the national security law on fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong as part of our item 4 statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in September.

Ireland cosponsored an event in the margins of the Human Rights Council in September to discuss the situation of Mr. Lai and the broader situation in Hong Kong. In February 2022, as a member of the Media Freedom Coalition, Ireland joined a statement calling on the Chinese authorities to respect freedom of the press and freedom of speech in Hong Kong. Ireland will continue to monitor the situation with regard to Mr. Lai's case, media freedom, and fundamental freedoms more broadly in Hong Kong.