David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes, the Chairman is very kind and I appreciate his efforts. I welcome the ambassador, Mr. Donoghue. It is refreshing that he departed from his script and eyeballed the committee which always shows a real commitment and purpose.

I support strongly what Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan said about need for tax justice to be addressed; it is a fundamental question. Had she not raised the matter I would have raised it myself but she has done so in a very clear way. I shall ask my question but I may not have time to wait for the reply. At the conferences various goals will be discussed and 179 countries will be involved but the goals will not be legally binding. That suggests to me that people will find ways of weaselling out of the goals unless they are legally binding. I know it would be difficult to get 179 countries to agree to something that was legally binding. When there is a crisis we see representatives of countries stepping up to the television cameras pledging this and that, and that they will give "X" amount of money but that never happens. The public pledges are just done for publicity purposes. What is the ambassador's feeling about the response of all of these countries? The United Nations is a very mixed bag. There are countries that are represented by, in many cases, rather squalid regimes. How confident is the ambassador that these measures will be respected? They may be agreed to in the full glare of publicity but they are without legal backing.