Mr. Julian Assange has done the world a huge service by exposing crimes and human rights violations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He deserves everybody's gratitude, not incarceration. He has suffered and has been tortured. Will the Tánaiste raise his case with the British ambassador and call for and demand his release?

"If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth," according to Mr. Julian Assange. The case of Mr. Assange is very simple. Acting as a journalist and publisher in co-ordination with The Guardian, Der Spiegel and The New York Times, he exposed major war crimes by US forces and their allies. The National Union of Journalists has said the charges seek to criminalise activity that for many of its members is their daily work. As Mr. Assange is not an American citizen, his extradition by the British Government would mean that the US would have carte blanche across the globe to persecute journalists and publishers for revealing state crimes. I ask the Tánaiste to raise his case with the British ambassador and the US Administration.

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I will ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to provide them with a written response.