Don Lydon (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House again. One of the triumphs of the Government has been the appointment of two Ministers of State who seem to enjoy their briefs and know something about them, namely, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Roche. I compliment the Minister of State on his dedication to and interest in his brief. I am sure all Ministers have those attributes, but the Minister of State seems to have a particular aptitude for this area.

The Irish Presidency of the EU has been a successful venture so far for the Government. This is perhaps one of the last Presidencies which will be run in this manner and it was important for Ireland that it was conducted in a professional manner and that our millennium development goals proceeded. The Presidency set out a number of goals and objectives in various areas of endeavour, not least the goal of trying to bring a conclusion to an agreement on the final text of the constitutional treaty to which the Minister of State referred.

The Minister of State referred to the fact that poverty eradication is now defined in the draft treaty as an objective of the EU and, furthermore, humanitarian assistance has also been given treaty status for the first time. These are just sentences in the middle of the Minister of State's speech but their import is huge. It is extraordinarily important that a constitution for a body of more than 400 million people should recognise these issues and put them into a treaty which I hope will be adopted.

One of the main themes of EU development assistance is the eradication of poverty. This is aspirational because, as we know, it is very difficult to eradicate poverty. The good book states: "The poor — they are always with us." However, if one does not aspire, one cannot succeed. The aspiration is worthwhile pursuing and is an ongoing process. For example, the EU development Ministers will meet in Dublin on 1 June. For the first time there will be 25 Ministers which will no doubt mark a new beginning for the development co-operation programme and policy. I look forward to the outcomes of these meetings.

It is important that the EU speaks with one voice and develops a coherent approach to the provision of assistance to developing countries. The objective is not just to have a policy in place but to ensure that aid earmarked for a particular country is delivered in an effective manner. Too often in the past, as I am sure the Minister of State is well aware, we have seen massive aid packages siphoned off by unscrupulous rulers and not reaching those for whom it was intended, namely, those in need. I think particularly of former President Mengistu of Ethiopia who siphoned off $100 million of European aid. At the time, we debated the issue in this House, which helped to contribute to his demise in even a small way. Sometimes one might think that there is no effective outcome from our discussions in this House. However, that is not true. We witnessed this in regard to East Timor.

The problem of HIV and AIDS has reached pandemic proportions in Africa and the problem does not help long-term development. The Minister of State mentioned a figure of 14 million orphans. This figure was thrown out but one must think about it. So many people are dying needlessly from this terrible epidemic. The EU has a major role to play in combating this problem and in that context, we earmarked €40 million in 2004. Educational programmes must be put in place to counteract some of the frightening misinformation about the spread of AIDS in Africa, based on beliefs of how people can and cannot contract the disease. Such misinformation is incredible and we must have educational programmes to counteract it as well as the other necessary programmes. I refer to the education issue particularly because it is one we must pursue.

The Minister of State referred to the important international ministerial conference which he chaired in February. Present at the conference were 55 countries as well as UN agencies who debated a plan of action which, I believe, is called the Dublin declaration and which sets out targets and timeframes. Every one of these conferences gets people to meet one another and leads to some progress being made. Bit by bit, inexorably, we move towards solving the problems we have set out to resolve.

EU-Africa relations are very important and we have a duty to help. If the money spent on arms was spent on humanitarian causes, people throughout the world would have a much better life. The General Affairs and External Relations Council held an orientation debate in Brussels in January which involved the Council examining the effect of the delivery of EU external assistance. There is a need to harmonise the EU's development policy with its external policy. All these aspects must work together, otherwise agencies will go off on tangents in their activities.

Many meetings and conferences have taken place in recent times. The most recent, which was held on 25 and 26 March, was about international humanitarian law and principles in which Irish officials joined with the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission. There were also representatives from the other member states, from humanitarian agencies, civil defence groups and so on. Also represented were the European Commission, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Irish Red Cross, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Voluntary Organisations in Co-operation in Emergencies, which aptly uses the acronym VOICE, and the Overseas Development Institute. The conference discussed issues such as humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence and non-discrimination.

We seem to be disbursing a limited amount of funds on an increasingly wider scale, for example, to the Caribbean and so on. However, we should concentrate our efforts in Africa and particularly on the problem of HIV and AIDS. The tragic loss of human life in Africa is incredible as are the famines and starvation. We should support the efforts made by South Africa in particular in consolidating the economic and social foundations of its transition process. We must also promote regional co-operation and economic integration in South Africa. We must promote the expansion and reciprocal liberalisation of mutual trade in goods, services and capital and we must deepen our dialogue with Africa.

Just think of the recent trouble spots in Africa — Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, northern Uganda, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire. We should think of the upheavals involved, the massacres and human rights abuses, when an entire Continent is engulfed by poverty, massacres and a HIV/AIDS pandemic. This continent is full of beautiful and intelligent people who are very friendly for the most part. They need a helping hand and, as we are next door to them, we should give it. I am not saying we should not help other countries but we cannot do everything.

A wide-ranging approach is needed, not just in the provision of aid. We must harmonise that with the provision of security, defence, trade and education. The Minister of State mentioned commodity dependence, which is also very important. That occurred when the Soviet Union broke down — commodity dependence existed where state produced one commodity and so on, but when the Soviet Union broke up the whole system collapsed.

The Minister of State also mentioned debt. Billions of dollars were loaned to South American countries which could never pay back those loans and which ended up in debt to the IMF or the World Bank. The US then moved in with trade agreements to benefit from that situation. I would hate the EU to act in that way. We can do better than that by providing a genuine aid package. We have much to offer. However, the Minister of State should say in the appropriate fora that we cannot take in the entire world. Africa lies just below Europe, we have close ties with it and it is one of the places with the most needs and enduring the worst suffering. There is huge poverty in India and South America but I have been all over South America and although there is poverty, people can eat and they do not die of poverty in the street. It is important to remember that point. There is huge poverty among the Mayan people of Mexico but they eat every day and medical services are available to them. However, that is not the case in many African countries, where we can do something about the tragic loss of life.