John Dardis (Progressive Democrats)

The House should acknowledge the work done by Commissioner Byrne and wish him well in his retirement from the EU Commission. When he was nominated to the office, there was much criticism about it in that it would be a lame duck job and that it was not a position of stature within the Commission, but he has proved otherwise in the way he managed the BSE crisis, foot and mouth disease and so on. He has been a good representative for Ireland on the Commission and should be congratulated on the work he has done.

Another good thing which should be noted by the House is the decision by Intel yesterday to invest €1.6 billion in its plant in Leixlip and to bring employment in that plant to approximately 5,000 people. The real significance of it is that it puts the lie to say that a high labour cost economy cannot be a successful one. If we are competitive and if labour is productive, as it clearly is in Leixlip, then we can attract this major inward investment. The management and the staff at Intel are to be congratulated along with the Tánaiste and the IDA in securing what is a huge international coup for this country.

My final point concerns Iraq and the slaughter of people yesterday in Rafah in Gaza. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has been consistent in his denunciation of these events and, as Senator Brian Hayes said, it is notable that the UN Security Council, by a margin of 14 with one abstention, condemned the incident. Perhaps there is a growing awareness within the United States of its responsibilities in this area. It is not on to hear a spokesman for the Israeli Army this morning trying to defend the indefensible. It is also not on to hear the attempt to defend the slaughter of people at a wedding in Iraq. I join with those Senators calling for an early debate on the Middle East.