John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and offer him belated congratulations on his appointment. I have not had a chance to do so officially yet. He is doing a good job.

I have visited Bosnia Herzegovina. What is the Minister of State's opinion? It is a decentralised country with three ethnic groups, ten federations and a large degree of political, economic and religious segregation. I found the politics uncomfortable, as do many of those living there. Is the Minister of State satisfied with the EU's efforts to pull Bosnia Herzegovina into line? We might as well be blunt - the country itself acknowledges that there is a great deal of corruption there, even within the political system. The minority group politicians that the Chairman, others and I met acknowledged this.

There seems to be a mad rush to bring Bosnia Herzegovina into the EU. I do not have a problem with that, as the more people who join the EU, the better. However, we do not seem to have put much effort into dealing with a country that is so decentralised. According to people I know who live there, the situation appears to be worsening. I am not trying to put the Minister of State on the spot, but is he satisfied with the EU's efforts or could much more be done before Bosnia Herzegovina could even be considered for membership? There is also a mad rush for it to join NATO. That this will probably happen before it joins the EU is appalling.