Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

This is very important legislation. We were one of the founder members of the Council of Europe. My criticism is that it has taken us 50 years to get involved in this bank, which is designed specifically to help the poorest of the poor in developing countries. This modest contribution as part of Ireland's overseas development aid is extremely welcome, and we should expand it.

Perhaps the introduction of this Bill might direct the public's attention to the work of the Council of Europe, which is not widely known. The media are more interested in determining what expenses Irish delegations draw down for attending meetings than in the work of the council and its various committees on political affairs, social affairs, health and education. They seem to direct their attention on the one hand to whether one attends meetings and, on the other hand, to what travelling expenses one claims. I wish the media would pay some attention to the work of the council, much of which is relevant to us in Ireland.

Those of us who are members of the all-party delegation, including Labour, Fine Gael and Independents as well as Fianna Fáil, have contributed to the evolution of Council of Europe policies. The Irish delegation, in the general assembly and the various committees, has made an outstanding contribution. This is welcomed by the member states, especially the emerging, fragile democracies that need economic and social stability. If they do not have such stability, they will experience political instability which, following the collapse of communism, is not desirable in these states. I refer to the Ukraine, which has a population of 50 million. A civil war is feared and the problem stems from underdevelopment and a lack of education and opportunity. There are also drugs and alcohol problems but such emerging democracies have a humanitarian deficit which, unless it is remedied, will lead to conflicts similar to those in the past. The civil unrest in Ukraine following the election reflects an underlying desire among certain people for a return to the communist regime. This could spread north and south of the Ukraine and result in a difficult scenario in eastern Europe.

The Bill is welcome because it is long overdue and it will make a contribution to the Irish response to the necessity for spending on overseas aid. Ireland should accelerate its investment in this area to help the poorest of the poor and to help establish stability in emerging democracies by investing in education, employment and social schemes.

I was Minister of State with responsibility for overseas aid for a number of years. I had the opportunity to bring all the aid organisations together in Iveagh House. It was the first time non-governmental organisations came together with the Department and I was struck by how little they knew about each other's activities. It was an education for both the NGOs and the Department, as each organisation outlined its activities to ensure improved co-operation, less duplication of effort and more support for those who needed it most.

It is important that the aid organisations should be made fully aware of the legislation so they might direct their attention to countries in central and eastern Europe to address refugee and migration issues quickly. The situation in the Ukraine could easily get out of hand and we have witnessed many horrific instances over the past number of years of anarchy following the breakdown of law and order. These incidents mainly stem from the underlying poverty and deprivation experienced by people. Senator Ormonde referred to Turkey and she will have seen the conditions in which some people live in Istanbul. Ireland's efforts in the campaign to improve living standards among the populations of emerging democracies are welcome and worthwhile and they will create an awareness in the public mind about how important these areas are and how welcome our contribution is in such countries.

The cutback in overseas development aid has been widely discussed in recent weeks. Unfortunately, I had the experience of losing my seat in the 1992 general election and this puts this issue in perspective. Does the public care about overseas aid? If the public did, I would have received the highest vote ever for the work I did in this area. I would have received between 10,000 and 12,000 first preference votes, instead of half that number. The work done in the area of overseas aid was not appreciated. I do not wish to sound a note of warning for the Minister of State.