Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Ormonde for sharing her time and Senator Henry for tabling this motion. I welcome the Minister who, as with his previous Ministries, has done a good job in a short period.

I visited Baghdad in January 2003, a number of months before the war began, with an Oireachtas delegation. One of the most vivid memories I have of that trip is that many of our visits to hospitals, schools and public buildings were often interrupted by power blackouts. The situation in hospitals as regards the loss of power was particularly dreadful. The first thing that happened in the attacks on Iraq and Baghdad was that the power supply was hit again by the invading forces. A great deal has been written about the fact that we do not know the full extent of the casualties caused by the war and, in that context, innocent Iraqi people would be our main concern.

If the situation in Iraq as regards health, education and energy supplies was bad previously, it became worse with the advent of this war which has been described by Kofi Annan as illegal. People were obliged to start rebuilding when Saddam Hussein was overthrown. It is only fair to state that there have been some good developments in Iraq in terms of education since the war began.

The sanctions in place before the war affected hospitals and the health services in general. I recall visiting a children's hospital in which many of the children were suffering from leukaemia. The doctors and consultants informed us that they could not procure supplies. For example, some drugs might be missing from the cocktail of drugs required for someone's treatment and much of the equipment in the hospital was missing parts. The situation improved in the interim but recent violence and atrocities have caused further disruption to the health services, to education and to water supplies and sewerage facilities.

On my visit I was glad to meet workers from CARE International, the NGO of which Mrs. Margaret Hassan is director. Our sympathies go to Mrs. Hassan's family at this time. CARE International is an excellent organisation. Its staff deal with basic issues such as water treatment and their work in hospitals and health centres is extremely important. They spoke to me about the necessary work of rationing and feeding which must be carried out. Their main achievement relates to dealing with the matter of infant mortality and they were able to demonstrate the improvements that have taken place in that regard. I hope the work of CARE International and other NGOs will be successful. It will be difficult, however, because kidnappings, suicide bombings and other violence have led to the creation of a very unstable situation. For example, the United Nations had to close down its headquarters in Iraq — which I visited on my trip — because of bomb and other attacks on it. The Minister has taken a particular interest in Iraq during his short time in the Department. I hope he will be successful in his work in that regard.

As regards the Middle East and Palestine, a matter with which Senator Lydon dealt very well, efforts must continue to achieve peace there. There have been some positive noises, particularly in respect of what the Israeli Prime Minister said. However, the situation in this region is particularly difficult. I hope the efforts being made by the Government and the Minister in respect of Palestine and Israel will be successful. It is ironic that some time ago we were informed, in the context of the North of Ireland, that we should look at the blueprint for the Middle East as a possible way to solve the difficulties on this island. We are now telling people that they should look at the peace process here, on which we are working hard and in respect of which we hope to make further progress. Some of the people we met in Iraq were interested by the process in Northern Ireland. Perhaps efforts similar to those relating to Northern Ireland can be made in the Middle East.