Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Asian Infrastructure Development Bank is one of a number of development banks around the world with which Ireland is associated, the biggest ones being the IMF, the European Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the founding of which I believe was heavily influenced by the Japanese, just as this one is heavily influenced in its establishment by the Government of China.

In looking at development banks as a model, one has to ask who the development infrastructures are for. In this respect, and I do not think this was addressed in the Minister's contribution, what we have to look at in terms of the developing countries of Asia is that the number of girls who are in education is depressingly small. I am not including the very developed countries in Asia in that, but the failure of girls to be at school and to receive education is probably one of the greatest issues that can affect a country in terms of retarding its progress and development. I would like to know from the Minister, and from the officials in the Department of Finance and those people who will service Ireland's participation in the agency, what exactly is the development ethos that will influence Ireland's stance regarding this bank when it gets under way.

The second issue in regard to women is that in many countries in Asia, far more is spent on armaments than is spent on women's general development. I worked in Africa for a number of years. I was back recently on a private visit to Tanzania, in east Africa. Any country which seeks to have development without an intense and full participation by women will not succeed, nor will any kind of attractive society emerge as a product. It is also likely to be a much more unequal society, and it may well be an intensely patriarchal society. We also know that there are different forces in the world who object strenuously to girls barely getting any education at all, so we need to know the underlying approach to development in terms of the Department of Finance and the mandarins who inevitably will be guiding Ireland's participation in this bank.

The third issue is how the bank, and Ireland's potential contribution to the bank, will be utilised so as to help to deliver services to the people who are the poorest in society. By and large, that is women and children. While the references in the material regarding the bank mention not only economic but social progress, I challenge the Minister and the civil servants to set out specifically, in terms of Ireland's long record in working in developing countries, how our participation in the bank will meet our own tradition of assisting in development in a way that is balanced and that takes into account the poorest people in any society, and not only the rich men in society but, in particular, women and children. When we move beyond that category, by and large we are also talking about people in rural areas often being extremely poor in terms of resources. That is one question the Minister must answer.

The other question the Minister must answer is to give us a picture of how this bank will operate. Will it be an applications bank to which various countries will apply for funding? Will the funding be dictated by the bank or will the applications come from the bottom up? Development banks have a great capacity to influence, for the good, the development of infrastructure that serves whole societies and regions in a fair way. Equally, if it was to turn out to be just a boys' club, it could be something that would be utilised on an exclusive basis. We know, for instance, that China has made reference to having various initiatives such as a recreation, in modern highway terms, of the old Silk Route, going back to the time of Marco Polo and earlier in Chinese history, and strengthening the transport links by road and possibly by rail between Asia and Europe. We need to spell out exactly what the bank is likely to do. What is its vision statement? What is its statement regarding countries such as Nepal, where there is a crying need for development and infrastructure?

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