Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would also like to compliment Irish Aid on the effectiveness of its work. I have witnessed the effectiveness of the delivery of aid, especially in Africa, but it is one thing to contribute money and another to effect change, because I have also seen ineffective programmes. Perhaps the programme is more effective now than it was, but during the Cold War awful stuff happened, with Irish aid being politicised. I compliment everybody involved in ensuring the maintenance of the level of aid Ireland contributes during the recession, because pressure did come from political and other groups regarding the level of ODA. Thankfully, we defended that as well as we could.

How can we use aid to contribute to a movement towards equality not only in women's rights but also in homosexual rights and so on? All one has to do is consider Uganda to see how repressive regimes can be.

I compliment the Naval Service on the work it is doing with refugees. While Irish Aid is not involved directly, does it have an insight into the exploitation of refugees, apart from endangerment of lives? I refer to those who are organising the trafficking of refugees and the corruption involved.

The whole area of trafficking will grow, as Deputy Olivia Mitchell has said. Is there any way of managing it, not controlling it, more effectively in terms of those who leave Africa and how they arrive in Europe? We speak all the time about what happens when they come to Europe. What about the situation in north Africa where they travel through the various ports and are dispatched in highly dangerous circumstances?