Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I am sure Members of the House will join me in expressing the hope for a successful outcome to the convention on cluster munitions currently taking place in this city. It is a sad reflection on the state of affairs that four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are not represented at this conference. It is disappointing and I raised the matter with a member of the US State Department in Washington last week. There is a serious question of example that needs to be shown by Western democracies in particular. Some of the participants in this conference have had their lives changed irreversibly as a result of injuries sustained through cluster munitions and it is time that Western democracies, in particular, our friends in the United States and Britain, set an example.

I am happy to note that among the 109 countries represented at this conference are 70 countries which use cluster munitions. It is to be hoped that the outcome of these deliberations will set an example and that countries such as the US, China, Britain, Russia and Israel will awaken to their responsibilities, not just to their own people but to the international community, and that we will see an end to these horrible weapons of war which do no more than destroy innocent lives, sometimes many years after they have been dropped.

I also mention in passing another sad story, which is that of children going missing in this country. It seems we are in danger of having a——