Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. We have not had a chance to welcome him until today and are very pleased to have him here.

I was born in 1936, a long time ago. I have lived in an Ireland that, with the exception of Northern Ireland, has not had a war in all that time. We have been able to stay out of it for various reasons. Ireland joined the European Union in 1973 and there has been no war in the European Union since, although there have obviously been wars outside. Peace does not happen by accident. It happens because many committed, dedicated and determined people say they will make it happen and work hard to do so.

One hundred years ago Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. It was a crime.

However, the end result of that crime was that, a week later, war was declared. Some 9 million people lost their lives in that four years of war and there was far more damage than that. It is a reminder of how things can happen very quickly through just one incident. We had such an incident very recently where the Malaysian aeroplane came down not with two people but with 298 people killed. Picture what can happen in that regard. We could find ourselves in a situation where there is an East-West divide and a war. We have to be very careful how a death in a faraway country can result in something like a world war - one incident and millions can die. It is easy for matters to get out of control.

I believe the horror of events in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and Iraq remind us of the terrible outcomes of war. What can we do about it? We are doing something about it here today. We have been told that this Chamber is often regarded just as a talking shop and that we cannot achieve anything. I believe we are achieving something today in our own minds and those of the people of Ireland and, hopefully, as Senator Conway said, it will have a ripple effect around the world.

My concern is how we are going to help to get peace in the Holy Land. I remember in the Far East some 20 years ago listening to a man talk about how to solve the problems in Northern Ireland, and I did not regard it as something serious. It seems that when one is a long way away, one can come up with solutions. On that basis, I asked myself whether we could actually achieve anything here today, and I believe we can. If we look at the difficulties in Northern Ireland over the years, even ten years ago we would not have believed it possible to get the peace we now have there. How did that happen? It came about not just when two sides were willing to talk but through outside help, particularly from people like Bill Clinton and George Mitchell.

I do not know how we are going to achieve it here but, if we are going to achieve anything, it will probably come about through the United Nations and through Europe. Therefore, I support the decision the Minister made last week to abstain because I believe it is important that Europe speaks with one voice with regard to Gaza. I believe he did the right thing. We have to speak with one voice but that one voice can be very strong and I believe it can achieve something.