John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Cooney for his help on our visits to Ethiopia and to Mozambique. The Comptroller and Auditor General, Deputy Deasy and I visited Mozambique and we were greatly impressed by the work being done by the various NGOs, the Government representatives and by the many people participating at base level to make things happen. I am sure the Government parties here would have been very impressed that there was only one member of the opposition there and that he was chairman of the public accounts committee. I am sure that would impress Deputy Eoghan Murphy. That is the case.

I was glad to hear Mr. Rogers explain the funding through Governments separately. The work being done there, including by the embassy, is very positive and helpful, not only to those working there at the coalface but to people potentially looking for business, contacts and so on.

In explaining some of the workings of the embassy to Deputy Nolan, Mr. Cooney sold himself short. The people there do substantially more than what we understand them to do and they need to be recognised for that. I would not classify them as temporary janitors or anything else. I think they do an exceptional job. One has to experience it to understand it.

I mention the embassy in London, where Mr. Cooney was ambassador, and the co-operation with business people in the context of setting up a consortium to do business in Dubai, for example, because of the downturn in our economy. Substantial efforts were made in that regard. I have seen that happen in many embassies. Much more work is being done and it is not being counted. That is why I raised some of the questions on the workings of embassies. Perhaps Mr. Cooney might get an opportunity to expand a bit more on that some time.

I thank Mr. Cooney for his appearance today. Will this be his last appearance before us?