The Mayor of Budapest, my Green Party colleague Gergely Karácsony, is being prosecuted for holding a Pride parade in the city last June. As the Green Party spokesperson for foreign affairs, Councillor Janet Horner, has pointed out, Mayor Karácsony is facing a fine this time. Will he be facing jail the next time? In June, I and Irish MEPs joined the hundreds of thousands of Hungarians in standing against the efforts of Orbán's Government to stifle the freedom of speech that Pride represents. At what point does Orbán pass the tipping point? At what point do we recognise that his Government has gone beyond being conservative and very right wing and has actually become an authoritarian entity that is using the law to stifle freedom of speech? Prime Minister Orbán may well be here later this year as part of the events relating to the EU Presidency. Will the Taoiseach make his views about the value of freedom of speech, as represented by Pride, known to Mr. Orbán if he does come here?

I have made my views known to him on previous occasions. It is reprehensible behaviour. What is happening with the prosecution of the Mayor of Budapest for organising and participating in the Pride parade is unacceptable. I have made that consistently clear, both as foreign Minister and as Taoiseach, to Prime Minister Orbán, as have others. There are fundamental issues here, as an EU member state, in terms of upholding basic values. As part of his campaign to seek re-election, Prime Minister Orbán is attacking the European Union, seeking to undermine it, engaging in name-calling and so forth. There are serious issues that the EU will have to come to terms with at some stage.