Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome my friend and colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Treacy, to the House. I am happy that a Minister from the west is now at the forefront of developments in Europe, especially in light of the upcoming constitutional treaty debate. We could not be in safer hands. I have not had the opportunity to do so previously but I would like to wish the Minister of State every success in his portfolio.

It is rather unfortunate in an Adjournment debate that I almost know what the Minister is going to tell me because questions were asked in the Dáil last week on this issue by a number of Deputies. While I appreciate there are a certain amount of international niceties and diplomacy involved, I hope there will be a few more bones on the Minister of State's reply than was the case last week, although I am not suggesting there was anything wrong with it.

There is a painting in the State apartments in Dublin Castle with which both the Minister of State and I will become more familiar because the National Forum on Europe meets there and it is part of the Minister's portfolio to be present; he made an excellent contribution to the forum last week. I had the occasion to go on a tour with some visiting friends of mine and one of the paintings is a magnificent depiction of one of the saddest events in Irish history, the Flight of the Earls, when the chieftains of old Gaelic Ireland, having fought the good fight, were defeated militarily and psychologically dejected following the Battle of Kinsale, and set sail from Lough Swilly. Every Irish schoolboy and girl knows the story. What were left behind were standing armies, families, kinsmen and women, but, most important of all, land that belonged to the people of Ireland. As a result of the spoils of war and the manner of doing things then, and up to not that long ago, the land was appropriated, taken from the native Irish and given to a planter people. Another political debate opened up because of the legacy of that plantation, the consequences of which we are living with today.

That is what has been happening in the occupied part of Cyprus since the illegal occupation by the Turkish army in 1974. It has been exacerbated in recent years because of the thawing of hostilities, initially between Turkey and the European Union, and most recently with the passing of the referendum in one part of Cyprus. This was on the Annan plan and the UN initiative, which sadly ended in failure but was an attempt to reunite the island in advance of the Republic of Cyprus acceding to the European Union in May of last year. The facts on the ground are complex but are of great concern to those of us who would like to see a peaceful resolution and a reunification of the beautiful island of Cyprus.