Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I extend a very warm welcome to Emer Costello, MEP, on her first visit to the House. She comes with tremendous experience as an MEP for the past 18 months or more and as a very effective Lord Mayor of Dublin, where she carried out a very important role. It is a great learning experience for anyone to serve in that very important position and she certainly acquitted herself extremely well. I attended events she hosted when she was Lord Mayor. She was also a member of the Council of the Regions, which provides her with European knowledge.

I am delighted she is chairman of the delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council. It is a very important role. As convener of the Friends of Palestine in the Oireachtas, which is an active group, the role of Ms Costello is welcome. I hope she has an opportunity to attend a Friends of Palestine in the Oireachtas meeting at a time convenient to her because it would be good for her to brief us on the present position in Gaza and in the West Bank. She can also brief us on Hamas and Fatah, talks between the organisations and the future elections in that region. It is a very sensitive area and hits the headlines regularly and dies for a while before another crisis erupts. It is in constant crisis.

I hope the new Israeli Government will be more responsive to the peace process than the previous one. The building of settlements in the West Bank is more than provocative. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland provide an example. How would we envisage the building of further settlements in the South when we were in negotiations? It is unacceptable. People must go there to see it. Has Ms Costello been to the Gaza Strip and can she give an account of it?

I am particularly delighted that Ms Costello is involved in youth unemployment and trying to do something positive. I put this point to the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, on Tuesday.

I have been highlighting the issue for some time and I hope that Ms Costello will take a personal interest in it. The EU used to run a pilot project on a type of peace corps. Ireland could do likewise. Many skilled people are available to work abroad in an organised fashion. For example, the Niall Mellon Trust operates in South Africa and has done great work in building houses in settlement areas. I have visited the shanty towns in Nairobi. People were living in unbelievable conditions. Ireland has architects, engineers, plasterers, builders, electricians and plumbers. We have every skill possible. Instead of going to questionable governments that have abused our funding, why can some of the money from the Third World fund not be used during this crisis to form a European brigade to build quality houses in Third World countries?

From an economic point of view, we could build ready-made structures in Ireland and export them for erection in shanty towns. Entire areas could be developed into a new Ireland of quality buildings. I would like this work to be done under the leadership of the Army's corps of engineers. It has considerable ability. There would be risks involved from a security point of view, but missions would last for six months. I hope that Ms Costello keeps this idea in mind. My contacts in the EU have told me about work being done on this subject in the Union.

I thank Ms Costello for the hospitality she extended to the delegations from the European affairs and finance committees of the Oireachtas. She was a wonderful and courteous hostess. The Seanad is extending to her the same courtesy. I wish her well.

I regret that Ireland will lose a seat, dropping to 11. This is a serious situation. Does Ms Costello know what effect the reduction will have? When we voted to allow Croatia to join, I was not voting for Ireland to lose an MEP. If Turkey accedes, how many MEPs will we have? The minimum for any country is six, but we cannot afford to lose any more. Ms Costello works for Ireland, not any political party, when she is in Europe.