David Norris (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is a very good day. It is excellent that this motion is an all-party one signed by the representatives of the different groups. I had forgotten this motion was on the Order Paper when I tabled the other one as a result of direct contact from the campaign to release Ingrid Betancourt. I proposed the simple idea that there should be contact with FARC as clearly and directly as possible to request it to release her. I was very happy when I was advised by the office that the all-party motion was quite the best because while it includes Ingrid Betancourt, it broadens the matter. It is a good day that we are unanimous because it will send the right message. It was also just as well we took it because apparently we had no other business for today.

This is a very important motion. First, there is the principle that kidnapping is a beastly, inhuman and indefensible practice because it entails using the physical distress of a human being as if he or she were merely an inanimate pawn in a political game. That is revolting and I condemn FARC for it. I know it started out as a left-wing organisation with, as it saw it, the interests of the poor. However, it has gone on from that and has gone down some very dangerous ways involving kidnapping, terrorist explosions and the generation of enormous sums of money from drugs.

Ingrid Betancourt comes from a very distinguished family. Her father was the Colombian Ambassador to UNESCO, which shows a certain context. Her mother founded a refuge for street children, which again is a humanitarian concern. She organised political campaigns for her family and was elected to the senate, which gives us another interest because she was, like us, a senator. She received the highest vote in the election in which she was successful. We also have an interest in her because she is a European citizen. She has dual citizenship, being also a citizen of France. It is appropriate and right and we have locus standi to raise this issue.

After she was elected she took her principles to where they led her and she impugned the reputation of one of her political sponsors, the President of Colombia, for corruption, which shows her extraordinary integrity. She met and negotiated with FARC in good faith on humanitarian reasons. She indicated that she saw them as among the representatives of the oppressed. Then they cynically snatched her. From documents that have been released we know that while she was in the initial phase of that negotiation, FARC had decided already on the tactics of kidnap so that it could use her in its war against the government, which I unreservedly condemn. It is horrifying to think of such a woman being smothered and dragged around the jungle given that she has hepatitis B, malaria and a serious dermatological condition. We know from that extraordinary and powerful article by Lara Marlowe that she has now endured such misery that she has said she would welcome the peace of death. She keeps in contact to a certain extent. Her mother broadcasts every day in the hope that it will be heard.

For the first time Seanad Éireann has a representative of Sinn Féin, who is an excellent able and honourable person. I regret that he was unable to be here today for various reasons. I appeal to him that Sinn Féin should use its contacts because it has direct contact with FARC and we know that. It should use that contact. As I understand he is sympathetic, I hope that this might happen.

I honour that remarkable man and campaigner for democracy and human rights, the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, for the role he played. I very much regret that the Colombian Government invaded a neighbouring state and shot dead the number two in FARC, who was in charge of the negotiations. Talk about an own goal.