Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I am glad, nor do I believe people will remember the current crisis when they consider the good budgets we have introduced and the way in which we have run the country and will continue to do in coming months.

It was heartening to see the welcome accorded to the Taoiseach. He received the strongest applause of any world leader in recognition of Ireland's major commitment to the fight against AIDS.

Last week, with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I met with former United States President, Bill Clinton, to renew our co-operation in addressing this global crisis. In the past three years, in partnership with the Clinton Foundation and the Government of Mozambique, we have reached the stage where more than 250,000 people receive HIV counselling and testing in Mozambique, with 83 facilities offering services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission and more than 20,000 people accessing anti-retroviral treatment. This has been achieved in a short timeframe.

People sometimes ask why we work with the Clinton Foundation. We do so because it is recognised at a global level as one of the few organisations that can drive down the cost of anti-retroviral treatments. In the past six or seven years, the price has gone from $10,000 per person per year to $150. Much of this has been achieved through the good work of Mr. Clinton and his foundation. They have put pressure on international drug companies and worked to persuade them it is in their own interests to lower prices. What the pharmaceutical producers of these anti-retroviral products get in return is a greatly expanded treatment scene and increased volume of sales.

We decided not merely to have a mid-term review but to devise a completely new five-year agreement with the Clinton Foundation at a cost of €70 million. It is one of the few organisations that can upscale its activity by bringing more people into treatment in a short timescale. We are proud of this association. Irish Aid funds are being used by the foundation to make real and significant progress. Many people asked Mr. Clinton why he should get this €70 million and he was clear in pointing out that the foundation does not retain the money. Rather, it flows directly to the host governments.

Any Member with a medical qualification will be interested in our co-operation with Lesotho. Our work there is unique and different because it will be the first time a country will be allowed to have universal testing for HIV-AIDS. This has not happened to date in Africa. There will also be a real-time evaluation by United States academic health institutions. They will evaluate, as it is becoming operational, this particular roll-out of anti-retroviral treatment in Lesotho. This will add greatly to our ability to transplant the lessons learned in Lesotho to the other African countries in which we operate.

The new agreement between Irish Aid and the Clinton Foundation, which grew out of a series of meetings between myself, Mr. Clinton and our officials in Mozambique, Lesotho and New York, will run for five years. The agreement will see us expand our successful co-operation to Lesotho. Our plans for Lesotho are very ambitious. It is a country that is experiencing one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. Again, our co-operation will focus on the development of treatment programmes but, critically, we will also recruit and train HIV-AIDS health workers to ensure there is an adequate infrastructure in place to administer newly available drugs. It is my sincere hope that our work in Lesotho, in the provision of universal access to testing and treatment, will become a model for other countries.

The White Paper recognises that public awareness and support are critical to the success of the Irish Aid programme. While communicating the challenges that face the developing world, we must also present the success of our projects, such as the impact we are making in fighting HIV-AIDS in Mozambique. As Minister of State with responsibility for Irish Aid, I will continue to work hard to ensure an increasing number of people are made aware of the important work we do on their behalf. There is a simple message that we can convey. Every day, through Irish Aid, our taxpayers are helping the world's poorest people. Every day, Irish Aid saves lives.

The challenges may appear daunting at times, but we have many examples of progress whereby Irish Aid is having a definite, positive and sustaining impact. In Lesotho in 1999, for instance, enrolment in primary schools was at 57%. With Ireland's support, by 2003, this figure had increased to 82%. In Ethiopia, through our safety nets programme, Irish Aid is keeping hunger at bay for more than 6 million Ethiopians every year. With Ireland's support, immunisation rates against childhood diseases in Uganda are now at 84% for the entire country.

Irish Aid is helping to realise the human potential that is in people who want only a fair chance for a fair life. In doing so, it is saying something important about who we are and the values that are important to us. The launch of the White Paper is not the end of a process but the beginning of something more ambitious than ever before. There is much to be done to implement all the recommendations within the document and I sincerely hope that this House will play its part. As the Taoiseach said at the launch of the White Paper: "The fate of others is more than a matter of concern to us; it reflects on and affects all of us."

I thank Members for their unique and helpful interventions and advice since I became Minister of State. I stress the genuinely non-political character of this aspect of our foreign policy. Many elements of foreign policy, ranging from Northern Ireland to the UN and other interventions and stances, are highly charged and political and occasionally lead to cross and disputatious words in both Houses.

This, however, is a non-political area and one to which all parties have contributed. I think most particularly of my predecessors, Deputies O'Donnell, Kitt, Burton and Jim O'Keeffe. A great many Ministers of State in different political colours have contributed enormously to the development of this programme. It is highly regarded at international level and the purpose of the White Paper is precisely to provide a much larger platform through which aid can become an integral part of our foreign policy and of how we express ourselves in the world. I thank the members for their patience.