Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Lorraine Clifford-Lee (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

A number of weeks ago, a resolution was before the European Parliament condemning the slaughter of 30,000 people by the Iranian authorities, the use of execution as a tool of oppression of the people of Iran and the treatment of women, and supporting the Women, Life, Freedom campaign. In recent weeks, 30,000 people have been slaughtered by the Iranian regime in an attempt to suppress an uprising. People are being executed in hospital beds. They are being shot in the head, yet two Sinn Féin MEPs abstained on this resolution.
Women in prison are asking families to send them in contraceptive pills because they are being raped so frequently in prison. This is how evil this Iranian regime is. Sinn Féin cannot bring itself to condemn this evil regime. If a young woman is being executed, and many young women and men are being executed, the night before the execution she has to be raped by prison wardens because if she dies a virgin she will go to heaven, and they cannot allow this. This is the reality of what is happening in Iran. This is the evil regime that Sinn Féin cannot condemn. I am watching what it is doing. The people of Ireland are watching what it is doing. Sinn Féin thinks it can get away with its actions in the European Parliament and nobody will notice. Why did Kathleen Funchion, MEP, abstain on this vote? I want an explanation as to why this-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18