We are all entitled to our views but we are not entitled to conflicts of interest.

I have; there are several matters on the public record. I mentioned Mr. Philip Alston. It is a matter of public record-----

He got $600,000 from Soros and declared only $5,000 of it to the UN. Does the Government know about that, and is it worried about it?

The Minister of State is a distinguished former Member of this House-----

Exactly.

And not in the pay of private organisations.

I gave two examples: Mr. Philip Alston and Ms Fionnuala Ní Aoláin.

The concerns I had that the proposed three-year review of the 2018 abortion legislation would not be impartial have only grown since hearing what the Minister for Health had to say this morning. From the outset he continued to speak of his concern about widening access to abortion. When the official from the Department of Health spoke about the supposedly independent chair this morning, she stressed the need for a candidate with an approach of sexual and reproductive rights. This has been a consistent byword for pr…

Would that be a post-colonial matter as well?

There was a certain amount of talk about colonisation and post-colonialism at the beginning of this session. I have spoken many times about the subtle influence of money on the policy agendas of governments and international bodies, and the ideological activism that can be associated with that money. As Senators know, within the United Nations, special rapporteurs are regularly appointed to look into particular countries or investigate a specific issue. They are usually lawyers who are considered to be human rights…

Did she get her job back?

Following on from Senator Ward, the problem is not the Chinese people and their ancient traditions and wisdom and tremendous capacity. The problem is the evil empire that modern China, under the Chinese Communist Party, has become. It is at war with the rest of the world, or certainly with the free democratic world, because it sees that as undermining its claims to its alternative wisdom of how people can be controlled and how it see itself managing its society. I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, who is…

I am going to say what I am going to say.

I am not saying that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, would give us any great consolation, but we would at least have had the chance to see him looking uncomfortable. The chances that a Minister of State would have an outbreak of independent mindedness on an issue like this against Government policy would mean his promotion prospects would disappear as quickly as a Chinese government contract from a member of Falun Gong. Let us start with how compromised our political establishment is, and not just in Ireland. When pr…

An Irish diplomat dared to speak up, and we saw the corruption of the United Nations entity. She spoke up about the fact that people were engaging with China by giving it the names of dissidents who would be at particular meetings and places, thereby endangering those people and their families, and lost her job because she blew the whistle in an international forum that is supposed to be dedicated to the protection of human rights. We are in a very bad place. I want to compliment the representative of The Irish Tim…

What has the Government done since the Seanad urged it to use its diplomatic and trade channels? That question remains to be answered.

I am saying that questions need to be asked. It is too serious for these little parlour games.

I made no accusations, but the questions need to be asked.

Certainly, former politicians can take that.

I made no accusations, but questions need to be-----