Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I join colleagues on all sides in expressing appreciation and admiration at the manner in which the Irish Presidency has progressed. We are feeling a little complacent as whenever Ireland takes the Presidency, irrespective of the political complexion of the Administration, it has always excelled. This honour has fallen to Governments drawn from all sides of the Oireachtas since Ireland joined the EU. It must be said, however, that the momentous times through which we are living now mean Ireland is playing a pivotal role in the development and shaping of Europe in the context of enlargement.

The manner in which the House, the media and the public embrace debate on Europe always impresses itself on me. I could not help but reflect given Tip O'Neill's overused cliché that all politics is local. Local authority candidates may be engaged on doorsteps come June explaining the intricacies and complexities of the constitutional treaty Ireland has rightly been lauded across Europe for progressing to the point where, hopefully, it will be agreed by the end of that month. Everybody has his or her priorities be they at local or macro political level.

The presentation of the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, covered the key areas of the European Council and the mid-term review. Inevitably, combating terrorism was at the top of the agenda followed by the Lisbon agenda and foreign policy issues, the subtext of which relates to several countries and areas of tension in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. Sadly, the spectre of terrorism continues to loom large. We must ask whether the world is a safer place than it was ten years ago. I feel less safe than I did then. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, the direction of US foreign policy and its near obsession with certain unilateral rather than multilateral, inclusive approaches is cause for concern from the perspective of Europe. I am somewhat disappointed that while the recent meeting focused on the most immediate problem we face, there was not more emphasis on bilateral relations between the EU and the USA.

That is not to say the matter was not mentioned. In fact, the Minister of State Deputy Roche referred to the need to enhance international co-operation and the Council's declaration underlining the central role of the UN. It underscored the need to continue to enhance co-operation with partners including the United States of America. I would have thought that would be at the top of the agenda. The USA has taken its eye off the ball and is distracted by internal soul searching and analyses of its foreign policy and the direction of the Bush administration since its election. Given the year that is in it, the decisions being taken in Washington as well as in US society generally have a direct bearing on our future.

I am pleasantly amazed by the openness and transparency of democracy in the USA. What other superpower, of which there have not been many, would bring its chief policy adviser before a tribunal of her peers as will happen on Thursday with Condoleeza Rice? Superpowers are usually closed, authoritarian and totalitarian societies. Ms Rice will explain in detail why decisions were taken which affected hundreds of millions of people. I am sure the world will watch in fascination as that exchange unfolds. Hopefully, it will provide us with answers and, to make a strongly partisan political point, expose the neo-conservatives within the Bush administration. They seem to have thought the only way forward was to use force and that the only way to conduct foreign relations is according to the maxim "might is right". They seem to have thought the USA could act alone and treated the UN and its members with total contempt in the lead up to the Iraqi war. Now they are approaching the UN with cap in hand to seek a joint resolution at the end of June to somehow get them out of the morass in Iraq. What of the parents, children, brothers and sisters of the unfortunate American soldiers being killed in increasing numbers in what is becoming as difficult and complex a war as that in Vietnam? The spectre of Vietnam rides over all American foreign policy. I will not point the finger at the responsible parties; the American people will make that decision in their wisdom next November.

There have been flowery words and expressions of commitment to improving and enhancing international co-operation and taking decisive action. That is the least the citizens of Europe expect from their political leaders. We demand to be reassured that we can live safely and go about our business in our own countries. Is it not extraordinary that a small country like Ireland should be thinking about terrorist threats, something that was beyond our comprehension even a short time ago? I point to the hypocrisy of political leaders who should look back on the last decade of the 20th century with shame. Have we learned anything from the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Srebrenica, Rwanda and the continuing open wound of the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy? The civilised European Union stood by and did little about the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian tragedy.

We now have the problems of Kosovo. While the Minister of State was merely reporting on decisions taken by all member states, I question the Council's reconfirmation of its support for Security Council Resolution 1244 and the policy of standards before status. Surely, it is time to address the final status of Kosovo. Are we to continue to see images on our televisions of ethnic division and tension in a country in which Irish soldiers are holding the line and playing an international peacekeeping role?

Serbia continues to shelter and protect two of Europe's greatest mass murderers since Hitler, Mladic and Karadic. We are told Serbia is an openly democratic society and yet the combined forces of the European Union, the United Nations and NATO have been unable to find these two murderers in a small parcel of land in this continent.

President Kigami of Rwanda rules a country which still has not fully addressed the psychological, emotional and economic damage of the genocide of ten years ago. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs, rightly, will be in Rwanda on Wednesday when we will remember the tenth anniversary of a genocide which occurred while the world stood by, where, because of what had happened in Somalia, President Clinton refused to expand the definition of what was happening in Rwanda to a genocide, which would have legally obligated American troops to get involved, and where the general in charge of the United Nations passionately called on the United Nations for a further mandate and said that if he could have 5,000 troops he could stop the killing, but what happened? The United Nations, of which we are a member, reduced the forces, yet Rwanda, which will be feted on Wednesday, is still involved in colonial adventures in Uganda.

Mugabe continues to operate with impunity, sticking up two fingers at an impotent international community. There is little reference in the Council's declaration to what is happening in that sad and unfortunate country.

We then come to the Middle East. We in Ireland are best positioned to understand the pain and suffering consequent on a policy of bombings and shootings. Both sides in the conflict, with the active participation of many countries, including the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, eventually came to realise that the war was unwinable. The terrorists would continue their reign of terror — I mean the IRA — while those charged with maintaining law and order, the British, would continue a policy of containment. The result, as we all know, was stalemate. Dialogue and parity of esteem is the only way forward. The initiative of the Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, to recognise the right of Israel to exist, stated unequivocally and unambiguously last year, should be built on. The Arab states fund Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. I applaud the fact that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, went to Cairo where he attempted to engage the Arab states in that area. Unless the European Union addresses the underlying fundamental problems of Palestinian self-determination and what is happening in the West Bank, there will never be peace and there will never be a resolution.

Previous speakers referred to the other areas of concern and interest in Europe, including Afghanistan and Cyprus particularly, although I remain pessimistic about an outcome there unless the people, given the chance in the referendum later this month, decide to take the logical step and accept the Kofi Annan plan, but I have my doubts. I wish them well.

The Mediterranean was touched on and it was highlighted that in regard to relations between the European Union and the Mediterranean countries, we have common concerns and strategic interests. I hope the EU will continue to monitor political developments in those countries, especially in Algiers and Morocco. Morocco is now dangerously poised to go the way of Algerian Islamic fundamentalism. It is attempting to reform and democratise itself but it is under severe pressure from external forces in nearby Algeria. One has only to remember the terror of Casablanca less than 12 months ago which now appears to have faded from the public view because of the many subsequent atrocities, not least what happened in Madrid.

Overall, there is an urgency to ensure that despite the ongoing US presidential election which appears, on the face of it, to be a close contest, it is incumbent on the European Union, and on Ireland which holds the Presidency until the end of June, to ensure the United States continues to engage in international relations. I am convinced it has taken its eye off the ball in the Middle East, that it is no longer interested in the short term in what is going on and that it is engaging in a policy of containment. One of the main planks of the Irish Presidency was to use our unique position not only geographically, but historically and emotionally, and our relationship with the United States to rebuild the building blocks of friendship, fraternity and understanding between Europe, old and new, and the United States. That remains a fundamental plank of the European Presidency and now that we have got the constitutional treaty issues sidelined to a degree in that they are off the main agenda, I hope that in the remaining months the Irish Presidency will focus on improving EU-US relations because unless there is engagement at that level, I fear for the future. Despite the best efforts of the Council declaration on removing the threat of terrorism and strengthening the legal infrastructure that is necessary to identify, arrest and contain terrorists, unless there is a firm engagement between the United States and the European Union, I fear for the future.

I want to conclude on a positive note. The tone of the presentation by the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, was upbeat and positive. As politicians and political leaders, if we eschew optimism and bow down to threats, pessimism follows and disintegration follows that. Overall, however, the tone has been well presented by the Minister of State, Deputy Roche. The Irish Presidency can be justly proud of what it has done to date and I hope it will continue to be a success.