Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I applaud the work of the Department. This section does Ireland proud. It is unbelievable. I want to praise the Minister and his officials. For a tiny country, the contributions we are making in the international arena through volunteers and the security forces, whether military or police, are held in the highest of esteem. It was painful for me yesterday to listen to 19 Deputies vote against the association agreement with Malta, Georgia and Ukraine, especially in light of the work Irish people are putting into the Ukrainian crisis through the OSCE. I am familiar with Donetsk and Luhansk. An Irish man, who shall be unnamed, is heading up a sub-team of the OSCE special monitoring mission in that area. There are Irish people at the coalface of post-war situations, war prevention, and actual war, trying to keep the peace. It is impossible to praise them sufficiently. I found it painful and insulting for the ambassador sitting in the Visitors Gallery yesterday to hear this. One of the ambassadors said to me, "You know how painful it was to listen to those people? I have had to live 25 years under communism and it is painful to listen to them tell me what society I have to live under when we have the freedom of choice in this day and age." I want to praise the Department extensively. This is where we shine at the level of the United Nations, the OSCE and all of these levels. I can say that because I know of the feedback from people from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Moldova who will say, "Ah, you're Irish. We had a policeman". Take a bow. It is an excellent programme.