Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, would like to be associated with the sympathies to Michael's family.

I welcome the Polish ambassador. I could not trump the Cathaoirleach's words. He said everything we needed to say. The ambassador is always welcome in the House.

Yesterday, I mentioned overseas development aid and the moneys flowing out of Ireland to other countries. We have to start asking a question. If we are, for example, funding education in somewhere like Mozambique or Zambia, are we allowing that government to put funding it would otherwise have to put into education into other areas instead? I am extremely concerned by the amount of money we are pumping out of this country in the guise of overseas development aid. Some €6.5 billion goes to NGOs. Is it possible that some of that money is only going to them via osmosis – we have always given them money, so we will keep giving them money – and that there is no real oversight of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash that is given to overseas development aid or NGOs? The next Government will have to carry out a root-and-branch examination of where money goes. I do not want to stop funding NGOs or overseas development aid. I just want to ensure that money goes to the right place and gets to the right people and that we are not wasting taxpayers’ money.

This morning, I received a phone call from the son of a former colleague about Jadotville. We are several years on from the independent report on Jadotville. The Cathaoirleach has a significant interest in defence matters. To this day, that report has not been accepted by anyone other than a few people at the top of the military. It is not something for politicians to get involved in. The day politicians start awarding military honours is the day we can pack it in and go home. There was a so-called independent review of Jadotville. My former colleague’s son rang me this morning. During his witness statement, he was asked about his personal mental health even though it was his father that the body was inquiring about. Another woman in New Zealand underwent in-depth questioning about her mental health. What had that to do with the bravery of her father? What had it to do with the military action in Jadotville? Was the body in some way trying to mitigate the evidence it was receiving by saying that, since the poor devil was suffering from mental health issues, it really did not have to listen to that evidence? Deputy Nolan is trying to put together another Jadotville group in the Oireachtas. I ask that people with an interest in this matter join up and at least hear the story once again.