Derek McDowell (Labour)

I support the remarks of Senator Brian Hayes. When I heard the Minister make his remarks yesterday about the death of the young boy, Brian Rossiter, in Clonmel, and the delay in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, my initial reaction was to say, "That is the Department of justice for you. What else do you expect?" However, on contemplation, we must state that this is not acceptable. The circumstances of this case were such that they should have set alarm bells ringing in the Department and elsewhere. A young boy of 14 died in custody. It is remarkable and unacceptable that it took so long for somebody in the Department to accept something was wrong and should be looked at. Something is wrong in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform that should be looked at.

The coming weekend is one of those rare weekends when much of humankind will be focused on one issue, namely, poverty and development in Africa. I ask the Leader to use her influence in Government and with her nephew, the responsible Minister of State, to get back on track the commitment of this country to assisting the development of Africa. Many Members on all sides of the House have lamented the fact we have resiled from our commitment to meet the UN target on aid. In a sense, that is a closed chapter but it is important we put in place an immediate and ambitious target that we can meet. Whatever is said, we are ahead of the pack in the EU in terms of the commitments we currently meet. It would be very disappointing if the Government was happy, as it seems to be, to simply fall back into the pack and make the same commitment as other EU countries.

It is important we put in place an immediate and ambitious target, not in 2015, when those currently in Government will expect to be out of Government, so, in a sense, they are making a vague promise for somebody——