Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

One month ago today the people of South-East Asia woke up to hell. Four weeks on that hell continues. For those who have lost everyone and, therefore, everything, there is the possibility it will never end. On St. Stephen's Day, as in so many other countries across the world, the term "tsunami" left the virtual safety of the Discovery Channel to become hard news, replayed endlessly throughout what we had hoped at least would be the holiday season. Then came the questions. When satellites can spot crop growth on the Russian Steppes and eavesdrop on conversations in Kandahar, why was there no warning? We were asked by our children, "What is a tsunami?" and, perhaps inevitably, "Could it happen here?"

The tsunami devastated South-East Asia but it also affected the whole world. I do not think there is a parent in the House or the country who did not think to themselves in the quieter moments of Christmas, "What if it were us? What if I had to let go? What if it were my child who was just too small to hold on?"

If any good can come from this natural disaster of the Asian tsunami, it must start in that shocked empathy, in the cold realisation that our world is a small one, that there is no such thing as other people's children, that we are all in the end responsible for each other, globally, nationally and locally.

Everybody will agree that it is hard to pick one moment from the Asian tsunami because there were so many. One that stands out in my mind, however, is the tourist-cum-rescue worker telling international television crews, "I washed the dead because I wanted their families to know that at the end there was someone looking after them."

In Ireland we looked after the living. As a nation, we responded magnificently, contributing €40 million in four weeks. Everyone wanted to do their bit to show that this disaster was not another anonymous catastrophe at the other end of the world but was instead their personal business. Because it was their business, they wanted to make a difference. The aid agencies will verify that they made sure they did.

Now it is time for the country to do the same. It is time for official Ireland to make that vital difference. We have proved that we are well able to do this. Just last week the green dot on the western edge of Europe went calling on that new economic superpower, China, led by the Taoiseach and 300 personnel. I was somewhat amused at how the Chinese media kept rechecking that, in fact, the population of the economic force here was only 4 million. The results of that visit remain to be quantified but what we can be proud of already is that we went there at all. Why not set the bar high? Why not compete against the best? Why not go out and fight for new business in new markets for hard working companies in this country? Why stop there with our economic opportunities? Why can we not be equally bold in discharging our moral and social responsibility to those in the developing world, to the fellow members of the community of man? We can and should do so.

I hope the sheer scale of the Asian tsunami might rouse the Government to real action. It might get through to it that if it was willing to raise the game significantly, it could let official Ireland catch up with the spirit and conscience of the nation and carve out a vital new role for itself, specifically in the developing world. There is a significant proportion of the population who would be enormously proud and relieved if the Government did so. They know that living up to these responsibilities is not just about charity, it is about justice, freedom and opportunity.

The Government's capacity to get itself really into gear remains to be seen. Two issues must be addressed immediately: first, overseas development aid and, second, the confusion of the triple-lock in respect of humanitarian missions.

As regards ODA, Ireland should not only give the 0.7% of GDP promised in the people's name on the world stage to the world's poorest families. With our wealth and privilege we should actively campaign for other countries to do likewise. In fact, the Government's lead was weakened somewhat by having made a commitment that it had failed to live up to in the eyes of the world. We brought our high standards to China. Why not do the same in Darfur? We would do well to remember that Europe received $75 billion worth of aid from America after the Second World War. So convinced am I of Ireland's opportunity — even obligation — to lead the world on aid, we should introduce legislation to operate in a way similar to the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act, placing a statutory obligation on any Government to allocate a sum of 0.7% of GDP from the Exchequer in ODA annually.

The millennium development goals are both realistic and achievable and we should work to see them completed. Halving the level of poverty and hunger, providing education for all, improving standards of health, halting the spread of major diseases such as HIV-AIDS, and slowing down the degradation of our environment are all perfectly achievable over the next ten years if governments have the will.

I would like to see the wish of the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, granted and have some realism injected into the broader ODA debate. The tsunami has focused us firmly on disaster in the developing world but there is a disaster there every day. Just as individuals we could not walk away from events in South-East Asia, the Government should not be prepared to walk away from the reality of these everyday disasters elsewhere.

In the course of this ten minute contribution 60 children will die from vaccine preventable illness. Eighty babies less than one month old will die worldwide. By the time I finish speaking ten children will have died of measles in Africa. Some 450,000 African children die from this disease every year. Every minute at least one woman in the developing countries will die in childbirth. Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria. Today, 8,000 people will die of AIDS. If one goes to any African country one will feel that pressure. By the end of this year, as in every other year, whooping cough will have killed 300,000 children and diarrhoea will have killed 600,000 more under the age of five. In 2001, tetanus alone killed 200,000 newborn babies and 30,000 mothers. That is the reality that people in developing countries have not so much to live with but to die with. It is a reality that, in the name of the people of this country, should not be ignored or denied.

The triple lock is another casualty of confused thinking. The Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, who is new to his office, appears confused and hesitant regarding Ireland's humanitarian remit. The Army says we have the people to make a difference to the tsunami crisis. Regrettably there was confusion about this and a refusal to adopt Fine Gael's proposals last year, which would have allowed a rapid response by the Army to emergencies and which means we are not making half the difference we could in the tsunami affected areas.

The Minister is disposed to responding positively to any request for assistance. However, if we continue to dither over the triple lock in respect of humanitarian issues, while we are waiting for a UN rubber stamp mandate, hundreds of thousands of traumatised homeless people over there are battling cholera, typhus and plain hunger, but the Army is convinced that the triple lock does not apply to humanitarian missions. There seems to be confusion about this. There is something the Government could do at once. Given the depth of public feeling about this and given the generosity of so many people here, the Minister might consider lifting the normal restrictions on public servants who want to give of their services in the affected areas for a limited time. That could be done with specific expertise in terms of nursing, teaching, administration, logistical skills, engineering and so on.

Normally there is an endless series of applications to be made. If people want, for humanitarian reasons, to go to any of these countries, perhaps they could be facilitated. Right now, for example, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are the areas most in need of aid not just in terms of money but in terms of expertise. Sanitation is a serious concern right across the affected regions. In Indonesia problems of access and logistics are hampering the aid effort. Logistical problems see hundreds of thousands of survivors living in temporary camps, facing growing risks of water borne disease due to the lack of proper toilet and washing facilities and the persistent flooding of those limited facilities that are available. The situation in Banda Aceh, to which the Minister for Foreign Affairs referred, is now so critical that only one person in a thousand has access to a toilet.

I make this point to the Minister for Defence while thanking him for giving approval to a visit by myself and Deputy Timmins to the Irish troops in Kosovo from the Western Command. They do an element of humanitarian aid facilitated by €25,000 from the Department of Foreign Affairs. In a Roma encampment where the situation was atrocious, to put it mildly, there were no administrative costs from the Army personnel perspective, and very little money was needed to get real value in clearing places, putting in gravel or providing water sanitation. That is something that should be examined because the wastage of money in other areas is something that would not occur with that kind of effective strategic work by our Army personnel abroad. For very little money they get very good results. When the Minister goes out there, as I am sure he will, I ask him to bear that in mind.

We should remember and honour the private grief of the Irish families who lost sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in that very public event at the other side of the world on St. Stephen's Day. The families of Conor Keighley and Eilish Finnegan have but cold comfort in having them home. For two more Irish families the vigil goes on. On behalf of the Fine Gael Party I offer the Finnegans and the Keighleys sincere sympathy. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and with the families whose wait goes on. Losing a child at any age is an unimaginable horror.

The tragedy of the tsunami is not that there are so many statistics but that there so many stories. Yesterday we saw the joy of a father reunited with his little girl. There are so many stories of the sheer brilliance of spirit of those people affected as to make us truly proud. There are unending cups of tea, thanks and prayers from men and women who lost sons, daughters, parents, many of them their entire families and, in some villages, an entire generation. Many of these people live by the philosophy that it is not what happens to one in life but how one responds to it that really matters. Our response could mark a new commitment to ODA, a new commitment to living up to the responsibilities we have as a rich country, a new commitment to showing the rest of the world how it should be done. Imagine the strength of leadership the Minister for Foreign Affairs could give internationally had we honoured the commitment we made. He would be able to go to every other country and say we have only 4 million people but we honoured a commitment solemnly made before the eyes of the world, and show real political leadership by getting on with it. I encourage the Government to give the 0.7% promised in ODA and to actively campaign for other countries to do likewise.

Mr. John O'Shea of GOAL made a point that is very relevant. When something like this happens and a warning system does not work, centres of real commercial tourism will be rebuilt in due course. What is needed as an emergency measure afterwards are the armies without the guns, logistics plans in order to get in 500 aircraft into a small airport and shift goods, facilities and medicines and move on the aircraft. What is required is the ability to get people in, to get people out, to get aid and assistance to where it is most needed quickly and effectively. When one thinks of all that happened in Iraq and all that could be done in terms of life saving, of real humanitarian but military logistical capacity, we have the opportunity to lead and to save thousands of lives.

An unspeakable horror took place last St. Stephen's Day and this presents us with an opportunity to respond in a way that really matters.

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