David Norris (Independent)

I agree with my colleagues about the extraordinary situation concerning the opening of a section of road and political interference in the matter. I raised the question of political gimcrackery a couple of weeks ago. This matter gives rise to issues of safety and cost. The decision seems absurd.

I refer to a matter I raised some time ago on the Adjournment and at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, namely, the involvement of the United Nations in a camp at Osterode near Mitrovica in Kosovo. A decade or more ago the United Nations dumped Roma refugees on the most heavily polluted site in the world. High concentrations of metals such as lead and mercury have been discovered in the children living on the campsite. There is a serious danger to pregnant women, children have died and the United Nations has been told that unless the camp is immediately evacuated, more people will die. This tragedy is unfolding before our eyes. I have raised the matter with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, but nothing has been done. I ask that Seanad Éireann urgently protest about the matter to the United Nations.

As parliamentarians, we should all be concerned that in the past week the Turkish Government, using the constitutional court, has closed down an important democratic political party representing the country's Kurdish minority. Turkey is still negotiating entry into the European Union. It is extraordinary behaviour on its part that it should use the constitutional court to limit the main party representing the democratic interests of the largest minority in the county. A protest should be made to the Turkish ambassador about the matter.