Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the Taoiseach's visit to Africa. It is an important statement of Ireland's support for the development agenda and it is in keeping with our strong record of non-partisan, non-aligned development and promotion, which I welcome. The Taoiseach will recall that I raised on many occasions the need for what is called a new Marshall Plan or development plan for Africa and also for our own neighbourhood in the Middle East. We will be faced with growing pressure because of climate change and population increase, with stress on migration to the European Continent, radicalisation in those countries which might in future present security threats, and also the contamination of European politics.

We see more and more fundamentalist parties across the Continent with a narrow nationalist, xenophobic agenda, gaining traction and gaining ground. The main way to tackle this is to have a new Marshall Plan so that we can devote significant resources as a Continent to developing the economies of countries that need not only mitigation of climate change impact but real development. Ireland could be a leader in that regard. I welcome the Taoiseach's comment on that. That should be one of the cornerstone propositions that Ireland makes as part of its Security Council bid. I also welcome the Taoiseach's general view of increasing Ireland's footprint. I ask him to spell out in clear detail how broadening Ireland's international footprint might be achieved and how he would envisage that both in formal representations and in bilateral visits so that we could provide other nations with a stronger vision and understanding of Ireland, of our history, our record and our future.

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