Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The first question was raised by Deputy Mitchell about the millennium development goals and their objectives in respect of gender equality and child mortality. Ireland is strongly committed to the achievement of both of those goals. That is why one of the major initiatives in the development programme is the SUN, scaling up nutrition, programme. It is based on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, including the time spent in the womb, which is critically important. I have worked closely, for example, with the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on it for the past two years. We are pleased the programme has now been very much mainstreamed in the UN system and is very much a cornerstone of the initiatives that are now being taken to address hunger and nutrition. I expect it will form part of the conference we will have in April. Similar to the approach taken to addressing hunger, in respect of gender equality we are focused on supporting smallholders in Africa where 80% of smallholdings are headed by women. We are actively working on the capacity of smallholdings to sustain families, households and to generate income for poor families.

We make no apology for supporting family planning programmes which liberate women, protect their health and in many cases protect their lives.

That is an area in which we collaborate with the Gates foundation and it was one of the issues I discussed with Mr. Gates in reviewing the programme and the joint work we were doing. In that regard, we do not often see results in development work. Results can be very slow in coming through. One of the issues on which the Gates foundation is focused is the eradication of polio which has now been eradicated in all but three countries of the world. There are no more cases in India and the figures are down in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. One of the issues we discussed was the prospect of driving on to completely eliminate them. This is now an achievable objective for the development programmes of countries such as Ireland, the European Union and a foundation such as the Gates Foundation. We are seeing results from the development programme. In the review of the millennium development goals we must see where we are and what more needs to be done. There will be a special event at the United Nations in September and, as we hold the EU Presidency, we will prepare, in so far as we can, a co-ordinated European Union position, given the scale of its contribution to development funding.

On Syria, a matter raised by Deputies Seán Crowe and Gerald Nash and Senators David Norris and Michael Mullins, this is an issue that is very much at the top of the agenda for the European Union Foreign Affairs Council, as I expect it will be for some time. The first aspect to consider is the scale of the slaughter. The estimate, to date - some say it is conservative - is that 60,000 people have been killed, 600,000 have been driven from the country into refugee camps and 2 million have been displaced from their homes. It is a huge humanitarian crisis.

We continue to support the work Dr. Brahimi is doing and I had an opportunity to meet him here just before Christmas. We were pleased to be able to host the meeting he was able to have with Secretary of State Clinton and the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, in the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.

Of the things we need to do - it is one of the reasons Ireland is among the countries taking a lead position in calling for the reference of what is happening in Syria to the International Criminal Court - the message must go out loud and clear to those responsible for the slaughter in Syria and those directing it that there will be a day of accountability for what they are doing. I am not immediately optimistic, however, that the Security Council will make that reference because we know about the difficulties at the Council in getting agreement on these issues, but the fact that a very large number of countries, including 25 of the member states of the European Union, are looking for this reference sends a clear message to those responsible that their day will come to account for the slaughter taking place. I hope it will have the effect of causing it to be reduced.

I thank the members who complimented the staff of my Department on their handling of the kidnapping in Algeria. I am delighted that Mr. Stephen McFall is free and well, but, unfortunately, many of his co-workers were not so lucky. The accounts he has brought home of what happened are chilling.

On the European aid budget mentioned by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, the figures I quoted are still very much in play. There has been no agreement yet on the multi-annual financial framework, MFF. The 8% figure I mentioned is the latest proposal on the table, but it has not been agreed to. We will not have a budget until we have agreement, but I did not want the message to go out that the current state of play represented a reduction. It does not, but we are still a distance from agreement.

On the tax issues involved, Ireland is opposed to tax avoidance and evasion. We are fully compliant with internationally agreed standards on tax transparency. There is a wider issue in respect of tax matters that must be addressed at United Nations, European Union and multilateral level and we are committed to engaging in that regard.

On the issue of Zimbabwe, we will have it looked at by the embassy and our ambassador in Pretoria. On the issue of Bosnia raised by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan and Senators Michael Mullins and Jim Walsh, regarding the issues that need to be addressed, as I mentioned, a road map was agreed to by Bosnian leaders last summer. That is the outline to get them to a point where they can make an application for EU membership. Among the issues involved is a requirement to bring the constitution into line with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. Once credible efforts have been made in that regard the European Council will consider final ratification of the stabilisation and association agreement. There is also the issue of the establishment of an effective EU co-ordination mechanism to ensure the country is able to speak with one voice on European Union matters and can make the best use of EU pre-accession assistance. Once these issues have been addressed it may be possible for Bosnia-Herzegovina to submit an application for membership, but I emphasise that we would like to see progress made on this issue, as the Irish Presidency does not want to see Bosnia-Herzegovina left behind. We encourage movement and will work to that end.

Senator Jim Walsh asked for specific initiatives in the context of freedom of religion and beliefs and LGBT rights. We will be seeking consensus on an extension of a strong, independent mandate for the European Union rapporteur on freedom of religion and beliefs. In respect of LGBT rights, we will be working towards the development of new EU guidelines on the rights of LGBT persons.

I agree with Senator Jim Walsh on the need for a strong arms trade treaty. There is a strong sense within the international community that a comprehensive and robust arms trade treaty is within reach. A final conference will be held in March to agree to such a treaty and the European Union is now finalising its approach to the negotiations. Ireland will work with its EU partners and other like-minded countries to reach agreement on a treaty that will provide for the highest possible standards.