Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree that we cannot have a situation where those who are elected and have influence can decide not to accept a recommendation or decision by an independent body with statutory authority. I made the point to the Deputy First Minister when I called him, after Deputy Adams had been taken in by the PSNI, that if there was a dark side to the PSNI, the option was open to make a formal complaint to the ombudsman, which has authority and oversight over police and policing regulations. I do not know whether that suggestion was taken up.

I was in Brussels when the DUP First Minister decided not to attend the North-South Ministerial Council. The Tánaiste at the time, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, dealt with it but it is not good enough to have signals being sent out that if people do not like the situation they can have a process or withdrawal. It is not good for anyone or the process and it sends out the wrong signal to ordinary people.

In that sense, I hope the Unionist parties re-engage actively both in the Executive and at the North-South Ministerial Council. The point the Deputy makes on that is true.

Former US President, Bill Clinton, had a particular view on Ukraine, in that he felt there is an opportunity to assist the people of Ukraine to become a buffer between Russia and the countries to the west of Ukraine. He pointed out that after the demise of the President, they did not destroy, burn or loot premises, towns and cities or presidential palaces. For that reason, he believes they wanted to be a people striving towards democracy, with a strong inclination towards the European Union, and that incentivising them to hold their elections and make their own determination, would, in its own way, give them both responsibility and the authority to act as a go-between between east and west. He made this particular point, rather than saying we should go in there and decide how this place should react to our presence. He was quite strong on that and had a genuine interest in the entire geopolitics of the region, in the Crimea and further south.

The Deputy mentioned the Clinton Foundation in Africa, which has a global reputation for spearheading successful initiatives on HIV, AIDS, health access, development, climate change, social enterprise and child health and nutrition. The former President pointed out some outstanding examples of poor and poverty stricken villages where people were trained and shown how to grow, treat and irrigate crops and the value and benefit these people achieved from the sale of the product of those fields in the local markets. He gave specific examples of some very poor families who had made great progress and significant strides because of the extra income generated by being able to produce different varieties of crops.

As the Deputy is aware, Ireland has worked in partnership with the Clinton Foundation since 2003 in joint ventures between Irish Aid and the Clinton health access initiative. Ireland's collaboration with the Clinton health access initiative will see the provision of €18 million in Mozambique and Lesotho between 2011 and 2015. In total, over €130 million has been provided to the Clinton Foundation HIV programme since 2003. I am pleased to say that the Irish Aid partnership with the Clinton Foundation represents a substantial and successful partnership in the global fight against HIV and AIDS and has contributed to significant progress in addressing both in Mozambique and Lesotho. With support from this partnership, the government in Mozambique is successfully rolling out treatment to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV, with over 70,000 women now accessing drugs annually to prevent this. More than 300,000 people are on HIV treatment, up from less than 2,000 people at the end of 2002. The epidemic is finally beginning to show signs of winding down, as HIV prevalence has decreased from over 16.5% in 2006 to 11.5% now. In Lesotho, HIV counselling and testing services have been expanded to almost two-thirds of the population today, compared to fewer than one in ten in 2007. These important initiatives have made a huge impact on many people's lives and the Government is happy to be associated with them.

Former President Clinton and I also spoke about other matters, such as immigration and he commented on the situation in America in the context of the undocumented. These were the main points raised.

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