Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Former US President Bill Clinton took the opportunity to meet me on 4 March when he was in Dublin en routeto a series of engagements in Northern Ireland. We discussed a number of political and development aid issues. At the time, the political and security situation in Ukraine and Crimea was evolving rapidly and we took the opportunity to discuss the latest developments in that country.

Our meeting focused on development work and issues in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We discussed the work of Irish Aid in Africa, with particular reference to its focus on tackling AIDS in Mozambique and Lesotho, where the number of people with AIDS has dropped significantly thanks in part to the highly effective partnership in these countries between Ireland and the Clinton Foundation. Former President Clinton outlined other work under way in Africa, where his foundation is working with governments to support sustainable farming initiatives which help farming communities to modernise their practices and stay on the land.

We also discussed the situation in Northern Ireland following the conclusion of the talks process chaired by Dr. Richard Haass. As ever, the former President was keenly interested in seeing all sides in Northern Ireland continuing to work together to make further progress in building a sustainable future. I emphasised that the political leaders in Northern Ireland needed to be encouraged to work together to address the challenges they faced and not to let current difficulties become an impasse to further progress.

We also discussed the humanitarian situation in Syria and the challenge for neighbouring countries, including Jordan, in dealing with refugees seeking to escape the conflict there.

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