Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I very much appreciate the connection between the people of Australia and of Ireland. My grandmother's brothers and sisters emigrated to Australia. My uncle emigrated there after the Civil War and my aunt emigrated to Australia around the time of my father. We have long family connections with Australia. Moreover, there are many families in County Clare with connections with Queensland and New South Wales.

I have no difficulty in wanting to deepen the relationship between the people of Australia and Ireland, but Mr. Howard brings particular baggage with him. The Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, mentioned how significant it is that Mr. Howard is the first Liberal Australian Prime Minister to visit Ireland. He does so with an extraordinary record. He has pioneered putting Australia outside the ambit of international law. He has shown no respect for human rights. I recall that the longest meeting held by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which I am the longest-serving member, took place when there was an objection to the wording of a resolution we passed congratulating Australia on its constitution, because I had included a sentence referring to the original inhabitants of Australia. Around the time the members of my family at the end of the 19th century were emigrating to Australia, the Privy Council of the United Kingdom described Australia as attractive territory, practically unoccupied, without settled inhabitants or settled law. Later on, when it was advocating its theory of terra nullius, an empty country, it went on to refine the notion that it did not have civilised people or civilised law. When I asked that on the occasion of the celebration of the Australian constitution it was time that the original occupants of Australia be recognised, my suggestion was described as inaccurate, unhelpful and unfriendly.

All this does not stop anyone raising any of these issues, although I have no confidence they will be raised. Will the Iraq issue be raised? As this House has already heard, Mr. Howard has supported the principle of pre-emption, which places a country outside the ambit of international law. He has spoken savagely against the rights of trade unions. He has changed the law with regard to the press, for example if a person is detained, and one comments on that in the public press. Allegedly he has a unique macho attitude towards boat people, those who come through the seas to Australia. We need not be coy about the relationship with East Timor, because the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, has an admirable record in assisting its people. Mr. Howard, instead of robbing all their oil and granting them 20% as was formerly the case, is now willing to concede to them 50%. Should he be thanked for that? We could also question Mr. Howard's general attitude towards Asia.

Mr. Howard comes with a unique background and record. Our friendship with the people of Australia is mediated through the millions of people there of Irish extraction. They will be looking to us to make sure Mr. Howard hears the full Irish view, that it expresses our official position of neutrality and of — I believe — our official position of being against the Iraq war, with our nuanced assistance to the war effort through Shannon Airport. Those people will also want to hear from us that the strength of a small country and its influence in the international world is in its respect for law and its respect for the most vulnerable boat people. We do not admire the dragging of a boat through the seas and watching it sink, nor the placing of people in detention camps, nor the abuse of law in all its principles in the name of an anti-terrorist campaign.

All of that having been said, the representative of the Australian people will always be welcome here. People who are elected should be spoken to. However, it is not a curiosity nor an exotic achievement that Mr. Howard is the first Liberal Australian Prime Minister visiting Ireland. There were people who visited before who were not without blemish, in different times, but they came with a particular kind of connection to things we could share in the international labour movement, the international human rights movement, the United Nations and all these areas. I suggest that on this occasion, our valuable economic relationships should be a footnote in the preparations for Mr. Howard's visit, and we should be determined to — with courtesy, courage and frankness — present the Irish view, and the view of Irish in Australia, on all of these issues to Mr. Howard, for his reflection. Our Parliament, in a small country, is at its best when it speaks on and defends issues of principle. It is probably at its worst when it decides to sideline those issues of principle for any flimsy, narrow or shallow advantage.

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