Alex White (Labour)

I will spare the Cathaoirleach the embarrassment of wearing the badge.

On a more serious note, it is right that the eyes of the world are on the US, but I hope when the election is over the eyes of the international community will fix, at least briefly, on the recent shocking reports by the BBC and Amnesty International in respect of the most horrific stoning, beating and murder of a young girl in Somalia in shocking circumstances. She had been accused of adultery, which is in breach of Islamic law. Her father and other sources had informed Amnesty International that she had been raped by three men and that she attempted to report this rape to the militia that controls the city in which she lives. Amnesty International has done extraordinary work in the past few days to identify this story, pointing out that this 13 year old child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups that currently control Kismayo. I ask the Deputy Leader to raise urgently with the Minister for Foreign Affairs that Ireland should support immediately the setting up of an international commission of inquiry into this incident and similar incidents in Somalia. If we are truly to begin a new era on the international scene, which I hope we will do tomorrow, this is precisely the kind of incident which the international community must not countenance.