I move:
That Seanad Éireann:
notes with concern the ongoing detention by the Bahraini authorities of 47 health care professionals whose only crime was to treat injured patients who presented to their emergency department;
condemns the actions of the Bahraini state in prosecuting doctors, nurses and paramedics for fulfilling their duty to the patients in their care;
notes with horror the reports that these medical workers have been tortured while detained;
abhors the declaration by the Bahraini military that the Salmaniya hospital is a legitimate security target;
supports the efforts of the renowned international medical relief charity Médecins Sans Frontières to treat those too afraid to leave their homes to seek treatment, and notes that Mr. Saeed Mahdi, an employee of Médecins Sans Frontières, was beaten and arrested on the 6th of May 2011, two days after his house was burned down by security forces, with neither his family nor his lawyers receiving information regarding his condition or his whereabouts since;
recalls that hundreds of Bahraini doctors have received training in Ireland, where they have treated our sick, healed our injured and delivered our children;
notes that Dr. Ali Essa Al Ekri, who trained in paediatric orthopaedic surgery at Temple Street hospital, and who is the father of an Irish citizen, is among those who were detained, and further notes that Dr. Bassim Ahmed Ali Dhaif, who worked in the Mater University Hospital, The Children's Hospital, Temple Street and Cappagh Hospital is being prosecuted also, as is Dr. Dhaif's brother Dr. Ghassan Ahmed Ali Dhaif;
requests that the Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade bring these matters to the attention of King Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to the Prime Minister Prince Shaikh Kahlifa bin Salman al Khalifa, and to His Excellency Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Rashid Al Khalifa, whose embassy in London includes a mission to Ireland;
urges Irish organisations, especially those involved in health education, which have established linkages with Bahrain and with its government to use all of their influence on behalf of these persecuted professionals;
appeals to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade that he might monitor the prosecution of these doctors closely and continue to raise the House's concern for these medics with all interested parties.