Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I thank my colleague Senator McCarthy and welcome the Minister of State. What is going on here is the Nigerian Government is failing to protect its own citizens. It is vital that pressure be put on President Tinubu. I recommend listening to what people like Cardinal John Onaiyekan have said in recent days about what is going on. He points out this is not a Christian-Muslim conflict, though there are questions about the persecution of Christians in different parts of the world and questions of religious freedom. It is perhaps time for this Government to think about Ireland having an envoy for religious freedom.

This particular instance is the abduction of over 300 children and about a dozen staff members from a school with a strong connection to Ireland. It was founded partly by an SMA father, Donall O'Cathain. It has about 600 children. Why do children board in such a school? Because it is too far for them to travel to school. This is an activity of the Catholic Church that has been going on for many years. The school is run by the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, an order founded by the Irish SMA Fathers to minister to women in western Africa. They are celebrating 150 years of their wonderful work this year. Many women in that order went out facing disease and danger and many had short lives in the mission territory but the work continues to this day.

Sr. Mary T. Barron, who is the international leader of the congregation based in Rome, was in Ghana when all this happened. She is making exactly the right point and showing the same concern for the parents of the children and the families of the adults abducted. Cardinal Onaiyekan asks whether there is a question of internal sabotage and whether within Nigerian Government ranks are members of Boko Haram, perhaps, or people who support terrorism. The concerted effort that needs to happen is the demand that this security and criminality problem - not a Christian-Muslim conflict - be addressed. The Nigerian Government must protect its own citizens. The least our Government can do, given our country's connection with this place and the wonderful work done by Irish missionaries to this day in Africa, is stand in solidarity with these people and put pressure on the Nigerian Government, hopefully in partnership with other governments. Action must be taken to protect the children and adults in this situation and in the other situations that have arisen far too often in Nigeria.