Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Let me reiterate some of the points I put to the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to assist him. He is probably aware that announcements were made over the weekend by the President of Belarus indicating the possible intention of that country to close access to projects such as the Chernobyl Children's Project. I am sure he is aware that many hundreds of thousands of Irish people have contributed to this charity to improve the lot of children suffering from the effects of the disaster in Chernobyl.

As I understand it, part of the function of the Council of Europe Development Bank is to assist poor countries that are members of the Council of Europe. I know it has a specific brief regarding migrants, a subject to which I will return. It is appropriate, in view of the fears raised by people such as Adi Roche regarding events in Belarus, that we should take the opportunity during the consideration of this Bill to ask the Minister of State to comment, on behalf of the Government, on whether he has sought to make representations to the Government of Belarus which is likely to be a recipient of assistance under the programme of the Council of Europe Development Bank and other similar institutions. Did the Minister of State inquire what is happening in regard to the possible change by the authorities in Belarus?

Some months ago, the Government undertook a referendum, which considerably more than 80% of the people supported, to seek to limit the right to Irish citizenship to children born in Ireland. As the Minister of State will be aware, some of these children have been deported, along with their non-Irish parents, to some countries which are to be aided by the Council of Europe Development Bank. Will the Government consider assisting Irish-born children deported to the countries the Bill seeks to assist which are very poor and where there is a problem of migration to the rest of Europe? Will the Minister ensure that some of the money the Government is committing to the Council of Europe Development Bank will be used to assist some of these deported Irish citizens?

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