Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I am an interested observer because I have some experience of election monitoring on behalf of the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, OSCE, in countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Albania, among others. It was a fascinating experience. The organisation is tremendous and the diversity of its functions and roles is interesting.

As I praised the Tánaiste and his officials at the foreign affairs committee, I will not make the same speech. Instead, I will pick up on some of the issues that have been raised in the Chamber. In some countries, for example, Moldova, Albania or Kyrgyzstan, the OSCE is a household name. The kids on the street know about its role. In Bishkek, for example, the OSCE has offices. In Ireland, most people believe that we are discussing the OECD and have not heard of the OSCE. Who is to blame for this mistake?

It was rather late in the day that I discovered that there was such a thing as the OSCE parliamentary assembly. Some of the Deputies present are delegates to that assembly. My experience of election monitoring used to be through Irish Aid, which used panels of vetted volunteers. Irish Aid does significant work. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle's brother was in a difficult position when he was sent on his first mission. Among other problems, it was bloody cold and the living conditions were trying.

There is a disconnect between the OSCE's parliament and executive. Our foreign affairs committee has met the American representative of the parliament and the Secretary General, who was relatively new at the time. We put a question to them about the funding streams, which do not seem adequate to sustain the office or to give the OSCE the international publicity that it deserves. There is a weakness in the funding streams.

To cite parliamentarians, there also appears to be an unhealthy conflict between the parliament and the executive. I have heard both individuals address this issue several times. This conflict was put on show when one of our colleagues, a Senator, recited his experience of flying on his own for hours to a distant land. On arrival, he heard Irish accents and discovered to his amazement that they belonged to Irish Aid volunteers who were monitoring elections. A parliamentarian sent by the OSCE parliamentary assembly did not know of or connect with the "official delegation" that was conducting election monitoring.

As I have no experience of the parliamentary assembly, I am genuinely concerned that it is a funny kind of parliament. There is a disconnect. If we are to build upon the OSCE, we must try to iron out the difficulties between the parliament and the executive. Perhaps they are influenced by the fact that the two have different offices, one in Vienna and the other in Warsaw. At a meeting yesterday, my colleague asked the interesting question of where the OSCE fell between the United Nations and Europe. Given the fact that the EU provides in excess of €1 billion in development aid to areas of conflict, human rights abuses and so on, is there duplication internationally?

I did not wish to dampen the enthusiasm of all of the parliamentarians present by asking why people did not know about the OSCE. While I was guiding tourists from city hall to Dublin Castle the week before last, to my horror security people redirected us from a part of the castle. When I asked why, they told me that the OSCE was there. I am a Member of the Irish Parliament, other parliamentarians sit in Vienna and Warsaw and Irish civil servants at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade organise the OSCE's meetings on behalf of the Tánaiste, yet the committee on foreign affairs was never invited. My colleague, Deputy Mac Lochlainn, referred to the conflict resolution issue. I happened to be with an ambassador from Morocco who invited me to a private lunch because his country's Government had appointed someone to its anti-corruption board. I discovered that he was a speaker at the OSCE meeting from which I was redirected. The people of Ireland will never know about the OSCE if the parliamentarians in this Chamber are not fully engaged in the process.

Having got those issues off my chest, I will leave it at that and allow an extra couple of minutes to Deputies who might have more to say.

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