Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Through the Chair, I wholeheartedly agree with everything Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan has said. In fairness to the Irish response, it has been extremely influential in influencing the United Nations response. There is a United Nations mission on the ground - I was present in Freetown on the very weekend it arrived - and because of the presence of our ambassador and team on the ground, as well as Irish NGOs being on the ground in Sierra Leone and Liberia, we were able to influence the global response to the crisis. However, for our part and in respect of our response as a nation, it was early and effective. While I agree absolutely with Deputy O'Sullivan when she states there are more fundamental problems, the Government has an embassy and accreditation there by virtue of the fact that Sierra Leone is third from last on the human development index. This signifies Ireland's commitment to those countries on the very issues such as education, maternal health, nutrition, gender and so on. When I visited, I spoke to the President and the Ministers for social welfare, education and health on those very issues because the Government believes strongly that there must be action on them and that Ireland has a role to play in assisting countries such as Sierra Leone in that respect.

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