Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish every Chairman was as efficient as this Chairman. The purpose of the Bill is to make the necessary provisions in Irish law to enable the State to ratify a 1954 Hague Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. There is also a 1999 protocol that supplements this. It is important to recognise these conventions go back some time. I am glad to say we are amending Irish law to recognise them. This is as important in terms of the signal sent to other countries as it is to the law in Ireland. I am glad to say we are unlikely to have armed conflict in Ireland where this law would be necessary to apply but, unfortunately, many other countries are not in those circumstances. We have seen devastating consequences of the destruction of very significant cultural and historical monuments, artefacts and so on in the latest Syrian war, for example, as well as many other conflicts in other parts of the world. I hope that with Ireland ratifying and producing this legislation, we will encourage others to do likewise. I thank the Opposition for its support in allowing us to move this through swiftly.