Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his comments. I also appreciate his involvement in the meetings related to the summit.

In common with many other matters, Ireland's position in this regard is not widely understood at home. Our role has nothing to do with me personally. Ireland has played a role in this regard for the past ten years through its non-governmental organisations, religious orders and general efforts.

Unfortunately, many world leaders could not care less. They do not pay much interest to the 0.7% target or the AIDS issue. I know this because for the past decade, I have been in touch with the United Nations organisations which deal with these issues. They frequently come to Dublin and Europe and I always make a point of meeting them. A host of significant and wealthy countries do not consider this to be a major issue on their doorsteps, so — que sera. That is regrettable. I have been a plague on my colleagues in Europe for the past nine years on this issue. We made them suffer a fair bit during the Irish Presidency through the efforts which can be made during a presidency. Unfortunately, it is a problem that a number of countries do not see as a major item for the agenda. They speak about the immigration issue but ignore Africa on the other issue. They have it wrong and they are well used to listening to my view on this. Some take a different view. Some non-EU countries such as Norway and Luxembourg play a part in this. It is important that we continue trying to highlight it.

There is huge respect for Ireland in Africa. The last time we stood for a vote in the United Nations, which was to do with this type of issue, every country in Africa without exception supported Ireland. They hold in huge regard the resources we give and the respect Irish people have given for generations, at one time it was missionaries and now, increasingly, it is NGOs and many civic groups. This is not a small issue, it is a major one and this country should keep pursuing it.

The programmes in which we are involved in Mozambique have made an extraordinary impact even though we are only a small country. If bigger countries engaged, it could have an enormous impact. Otherwise, we will always be trying to stabilise the situation. In five years time there will only be slight reductions whereas if others engaged in it in a major way, took it seriously and listened to Kofi Annan and the UN bodies working on it, it could make a huge impact. That is not the case today. The UN and EU conferences we held here were hugely important. We must try to keep those initiatives going every few years, perhaps not every year.

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