Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael P. Kitt, to the House. Nobody is better equipped to be Minister of State with responsibility for overseas development than the Deputy. As the outgoing Chairman of the sub-committee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs concerned with overseas development, he has vast knowledge of this particular portfolio and has shown a great commitment to this field. I wish to draw attention to the fact that the Minister of State, along with Deputy Michael D. Higgins, were prepared to go to Iraq on the eve of the war, at enormous risk to themselves, to see if they could do anything to prevent that terrible war that has proved so devastating.

I have read the Minister of State's speech which was well prepared and presented by him. It outlines exactly the concept of Fairtrade. It is an issue in which we in Roscommon have an involvement because a councillor, Orla Leyden, put forward the motion at Roscommon County Council to have the county approved as a Fairtrade county. This has been approved. It achieved the six goals. At least ten businesses in the town must have Fairtrade products for sale and the council must pass a motion in support of Fairtrade. This motion was passed and it is now a Fairtrade town, and there has been a 75% increase in the consumption of Fairtrade products in Roscommon town. I congratulate all the councillors involved as it was a decision of Roscommon County Council that it would become a Fairtrade county. A meeting was held on the issue last night.

Fairtrade brings knowledge, realisation and education to many people on the question of the strength and importance of trade, Fairtrade and Fairtrade products. It gives direct assistance to producers from Third World countries to help ensure they get a fair price for their products. It is said that if one gives people fish, they will survive for so long, but if one gives them a fishing rod and teaches them how to fish, they have a job for life and can sustain their families.

I commend the Minister of State and the Department in this regard. The Minister of State in his contribution noted:

[The allocation of] €8.5 million in support of producers in developing countries and development education work in Ireland. Irish Aid has a long-standing record of support for fair trade producers in Central America. Due to the success of this work, similar programmes of support are being considered for East Africa producers.

This is worthwhile. The Minister of State is also prepared to listen to criticism in this regard. A report by one organisation expressed concerns about certain aspects and the Minister of State referred to its critical report when he stated:

It suggests that Fairtrade benefits a small number of farmers in developing countries and is wrong in principle: it suggests that more free trade is what is needed. It also suggests that the impact of Fairtrade is less than it claims for itself.

Professor Frank Barry, professor of international development and business at Trinity College Dublin, states:

By seeking to influence the behaviour of consumers, the [Fairtrade] movement harnesses that most powerful instrument — the market mechanism — to affect economic outcomes by strengthening the hand of impoverished developing-country producers.

That is worthwhile. I know the Minister of State considered all of these aspects.

The concept of fair trade is a good one. Unfortunately, areas such as the Gaza Strip cannot export their products, fair trade or otherwise. Gaza is totally cut off from its export markets. I ask the Minister of State and the Department to take a particular interest in this region. The people of Palestine have been suppressed economically because they cannot get their products to the markets. There is now no port servicing the Gaza Strip, although it is on the coast, or an airport through which products could be transported to the markets. These are the issues that should and, I know, do affect the Minister of State in his work on overseas development.

Fairtrade has a bearing on the Minister of State's overall portfolio, although it is only a part of it. Volunteering is one area of development the Minister of State is keen to progress. The idea of the United States Peace Corps, which operated during the Kennedy era, was very worthwhile. As I have discussed with the Minister of State, a great number of people are available. Through this debate, I wish to promote the concept of people making themselves available at short notice to go on voluntary projects when there is hardship in particular regions, whether as a result of a hurricane, volcano, earthquake or other natural disaster. I commend the fact we will have at our disposal well-qualified people who are prepared to spend three or four months working with the regional authorities in affected areas.

I commend the Minister of State for his support of the Niall Mellon fund. I heard the Minister of State on radio refer to the fact Niall Mellon put forward a proposal to him on his work in South Africa. I hope Mr. Mellon will extend his work to areas such as Kenya. I visited Nairobi two years ago. It is devastating to see the shanty towns in places like Nairobi, where hundreds of thousands of people live in the most appalling conditions. If we can assist through projects such as Niall Mellon's or others, great work would be done.

If the Minister of State encouraged RTE or TV3 to bring a journalist and television crew with him on his visits, while this might be criticised for promoting the Minister of State — I do not believe it will be — it would also promote and support the work he and all the overseas development agencies are doing in developing countries. We can see the response to the recent television production on the Niall Mellon fund. More people are volunteering because it showed the effect of the work he is doing with the thousands of volunteers who go to South Africa every autumn to build thousands of houses. The more we promote this, the better.

I encourage the Minister of State, as I did his predecessors, Deputies Tom Kitt and Conor Lenihan, to support Oireachtas Members in accompanying some of his missions to developing countries. Oireachtas Members can get the word through and the cost of such trips is minimal compared to the percentage spent on development and world aid. Oireachtas Members are prepared to go on such visits because they realise the value of this work. When I visited Kenya, I went with UNESCO to the northern region when it was suffering severe drought. This meant I could at least bring that message back to the Oireachtas and other fora to highlight the situation as well as the situation I witnessed in Nairobi, which I would never have known of had I not been there as part of an inter-parliamentary group. I would encourage Oireachtas Members to make such visits and I would stand over the decision of any Member who was prepared to visit these regions with the Minister of State or his team.

The Minister of State should keep up his excellent work. He has followed in the shoes of the Ministers of State, his brother Deputy Tom Kitt and Deputy Conor Lenihan, who have also served in his current role. It is a vital ministry, which has significance in world terms as the lives of many people depend on our commitment and investment in those regions. I wish the Minister of State continued success in the Department.