Catalan leaders’ imprisonment
Mary Lou McDonald condemned the jailing of Catalan leaders and urged the Taoiseach to raise the issue at European Council. The Chair repeatedly intervened on speaking time and relevance, and Minister Simon Coveney replied that Ireland had urged dialogue and would continue to do so.
The imprisonment by the Spanish Government of nine Catalan leaders, including the former Vice President of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, is an affront to democracy. Essentially, nine innocent people have been condemned to jail for peacefully exercising their right to democracy and self-determination. Their crime, it seems, is organising a referendum to allow their people to democratically decide their future. Sadly, the world witnessed shocking scenes of brutality by the Spanish police in the aftermath of that referendum. We now see the same repression being used in response to those protesting against these trumped-up sentences. Prison and repression are not the answer to the political crisis in Catalonia; dialogue is. It is not good enough for the European Union to brush this matter off or to describe it as an internal matter. We all remember the days when the British Government used to describe the Troubles in the North of Ireland as an internal matter.
That approach did not work then and it will not work now. The international community, especially the European Union, has an obligation to ensure that Catalonia can pursue the legitimate cause of self-determination. The European Union-----
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-----prides itself on its values of democracy and the rule of law. I put it to the Taoiseach that he needs to raise these unjust-----
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-----jailings at this week's meeting of the European Council. I am sure the Ceann Comhairle is also concerned, given that the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament-----
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-----was imprisoned for simply facilitating a debate. The Ceann Comhairle is more than familiar with the case and the cause.
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Everyone here is familiar with the case and, I imagine, has some sympathy for all the parties, but we have rules to abide by.
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I have spoken on this issue previously when there has been tension in relation to advocates for independence in Catalonia. What we have seen is the response to a court judgment in terms of interpreting Spanish law, but we have urged, and will continue to urge, dialogue as the way forward here in terms of political interaction, rather than anything else.