Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I am always amazed at how intensely the Irish political establishment courts former President Clinton, and it will probably continue to do so if Hillary Clinton runs for the American presidency.

I put it to the Taoiseach that in regard to Northern Ireland Bill Clinton has no insight to offer that will lead us out of the current difficulties. Unfortunately what we are seeing is what some of us referred to 16 years ago when the Good Friday Agreement was drawn up, which is being borne out again, namely an institutionalisation of sectarian division. This is exacerbated by the Executive that was created being the implementers of Tory austerity, causing further alienation and suffering in Catholic and Protestant working class communities. Only the resolution of these issues and of the economic crisis and only massive investment that will give young people hope for jobs and a future in the North and bring together and unite Protestant and Catholic working class people will bring about a solution.

Did the Taoiseach have the opportunity when he spoke with Mr. Clinton about the economy and more generally to discover whether he reflected at all upon the eight years of his presidency? During those eight years, the bulk of the liberalisation and deregulation of the financial markets, of the speculators and of the big international bankers, happened on his watch, resulting in the disastrous crash of 2007-2008 which created untold suffering. Did the Taoiseach get the chance to reflect on that with the former President and did he draw any conclusions in regard to the economic policies he was responsible for which have wreaked such havoc?

The Taoiseach mentioned Irish Aid, which does very good work and when I was on the Committee of Public Accounts, I often had cause to look into that work. The Taoiseach mentioned the Clinton Foundation, which describes itself as working for global health and wellness and convening businesses and governments in regard to that. Did the Taoiseach have any opportunity to reflect with the former US President that in regard to the many issues of poverty and distress in Africa, to which the Taoiseach referred, a fraction of the obscene spending by global powers, including the United States, on armaments and weapons of mass destruction could be diverted to resolve the problems of poverty and all that goes with it in many of the countries of Africa and elsewhere and would amount to far more than what is raised in huge efforts by generous and ordinary people around the world? Did the Taoiseach get the opportunity to reflect with him on that or on why he has now realised these issues are there, but did not divert huge resources away from military spending and weapons of mass destruction when he was US President?

As the Taoiseach knows, many of the problems, such as water borne diseases, which cause havoc for people in poor countries could be resolved in a matter of a few years with the necessary investment, no-how and technique that could be invested if resources were diverted from the obscene industry of armaments. I am curious to hear whether the Taoiseach got the chance to reflect on any of those more radical ways of looking at the problems of our society and the responsibility of the current global political and economic establishment for those problems.

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