Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the delegates. They have said they were struck by the levels of poverty and inequality in society in Colombia, but I was struck by the level of wealth. Ireland would love to have Colombia's natural resources but without the conflict.

I found the remarks made, particularly about the US-Colombia free trade agreement, illuminating. That agreement sets the bar for what we are trying to achieve. Reference has been made to the fact that many of the historical promises made to increase protection and improve conditions for workers and activists have yet to be realised. We would all like to see the European Union take up that issue, if the agreement goes ahead. The Union has strong human rights provisions in the free trade agreement with Israel, yet it has not forced it to improve its human rights record in that regard. The same argument could be made in this context and shame on the Union for not doing so. Do the delegates believe the free trade agreement process should be suspended until there has been a thorough investigation of human rights issues and assessment of the economic impact of a free trade agreement? It would be a stalling mechanism. When we met a trade unionist on Friday here, he asked if Ireland would stand up for the poor people of Colombia.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell mentioned the land issue and the victims and land restitution law, which has been heralded. My understanding is that less than 1% of the land has been restituted and that even though this was part of the overall agreement, the government has not followed through on it.

We know that Colombia has 17 free trade agreements with other countries, particularly in South America, yet it remains the third more unequal country in Latin America and the seventh most unequal in the world. There are these contradictions. Do the delegates think there is anything in the agreement that would facilitate greater distribution or sustainable development or are these issues even on the table? They are part of what we would all like to see, but we are coming from a position where we are trying to halt and have some impact on the agreement.

The peace process was mentioned. My party has played its part in that regard. We went and talked to anyone who wanted to listen to our experience of the peace process in Ireland. We made basic suggestions on how they could advance the process. President Santos will say we need to strengthen his hand and that if he does not get this agreement, he will be undermined and outmanoeuvred by the military. It has rightly been said the military is the controlling power in Colombia. Families have rotated in governments and so on, but the military is the key power.

People have taken court cases, but offenders have not been brought in the direction of the courts, which has been a problem. When we were there, we visited one of the jails and found a guy who was still in it ten years after his sentence had been completed. One day we went to the shops to buy coffee and saw a man dead on the street. There was ticker tape around the body and two cops were smoking at the scene, while kids were playing on the street. We were shocked. There was no mention of the incident on radio or in the newspapers the next day. Therefore, life is cheap in Colombia. It summed up for us the problems in society.

If we can stall the process in some way, it would be useful. I am conscious that we have agreements with other countries, on which we have not followed through and that perhaps this might be a potential agreement in which we could make a difference and that it would proveful helpful in the talks in Colombia. I would be interested in hearing the views of the delegates on that issue. Do they believe that this agreement will be used as part of a charm offensive, particularly across Europe, and what impact will it have?