Mr. Louis Maguire:

There are charter flights to Morocco, but such flights may not be running to Tunisia. It is up to us to make sure our airline runs flights there.

Trade with the Middle East has been very important to the Irish economy. We have three ambassadors in the Middle East. Some are accredited to other countries, but that arrangement does not really work. There are simple solutions to all of this. Ambassadors are extremely important for business. When I first went to the Middle East I went to Libya, Lebanon and Iraq. I remember that the Iraqi ambassador in London at that time wanted me to go to Iraq and said he would set up appointments for me. Not only did he set up appointments; he made appointments for me to meet every minister in the cabinet at different times. I saw every one of them, and that was the start of Iraqi trade with Ireland. If somebody as humble as me could help start trade, what could the Government achieve if Deputies and Senators were to go there? In 1973, at the request of the Iraqi authorities, I brought a delegation of parliamentarians from the three major parties to Iraq and it was a very successful trip. It was so successful that the following year Libya hitched onto the trade mission and I brought a delegation of parliamentarians to that country also. The success of those missions was evident in those days. I do not want to bore anyone with statistics but we are missing the boat in terms of trade and tourism and unless matters are rectified, things will not improve.

If members have any questions I will do my best to answer them.