Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I agree with Senator Quinn. Some very interesting and good Ministers could be appointed to the Cabinet if we took the opportunity to appoint people from outside or inside this House and elevated them to such roles. It is something which is done in the United States and the United Kingdom. Gordon Brown has elevated many people from the world of business to the House of Lords and then taken them into his Cabinet. There are many individuals such as Michael O'Leary and Ivan Yates whom it would be very interesting to see getting on in Cabinet with people like the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy Martin Cullen and the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív and I am sure they would help to generate new ideas. I would hate to see Senator Quinn join them but as one of the most successful businessmen in the country, I am sure a space could be found for him at the Cabinet table and that he would perform very well. I ask the Leader to consider raising this matter with his Cabinet colleagues.

I also wish to raise the issue of our overseas development aid budget. An article in The Irish Times today noted that the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Peter Power, returned from a meeting yesterday and announced a commitment we entered into in 2005 as part of the European consensus on development pact means that we have to provide 0.51% of GDP for development aid next year. We are currently below that level but the Minister of State, Deputy Power, said our contribution needs to rise if we are to meet our commitment, a comment I am grateful to him for making. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan, for his views on this commitment and whether he will meet the obligations we entered into and ensuring the aid budget reaches its target of 0.51% of GDP by next year and come back to the House as soon as possible with his answer?