Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will try to do so. I have enjoyed debates such as this for many years. There is a repetitiveness about them that people who claim to be the champions of neutrality are more vociferous than others. I agree with much of what Deputy Clare Daly said that there was a time when the voice of Ireland was respected overseas and that voice was respected mainly because neutrality had an identity. We were respected for saying things which were seen as courageous, if unpopular, but that day has gone. I do not like to personalise my comments, but they are fair. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has been in office for a very short time, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember a single thing he has said since he took office. He is the greatest advertisement for the abolition of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. There is nothing being said which would offend anybody in the world-----

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