M J Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I join the Minister in commending the Green Party for putting down this motion. I am disappointed that we could not reach consensus and that the House will divide on the motion tomorrow night. All parties in the House have a genuine commitment and concern. It has been a tradition in this country to assist developing countries, especially those in the Third World.

The EU has been able to agree an interim overseas development assistance target as part of the EU contribution. That is to be welcomed, given the challenges faced by the new member states in meeting this target. I was disappointed to note that it will take us a little longer to meet the targets set down by the UN, I still welcome the fact that we have agreed to progress towards that. I hope it will happen sooner rather than later.

There are three aspects to this debate: debt relief, aid and trade. I welcomed the news that the G8 finance ministers have agreed to a 100% debt cancellation of World Bank and African Development Bank debt. This will go some way towards alleviating the problems of developing countries. Nonetheless, we have been very forthcoming in our aid and perhaps it has not been targeted in the right areas in recent years. One area in which we can be pro-active is trade. We must continue that because we in Ireland have seen, as a developing country, that if we use trade and the economy to its full effect, we can be far more helpful to our citizens, to the country and to the planet.

One aspect of all this is local to me, but is topical at the moment and highlights many of the difficulties we will encounter. If the sugar reform package being proposed by the European Commission is accepted in its present form it will not only destroy the sugar industry in Ireland, it will also have a dreadful knock-on effect on some of the APC countries.

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