Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Costello to the House and thank him for taking this important debate. I second the motion, which has been put forward with cross-party support. I am really glad we have been able to achieve that support as it shows the strength of feeling across Ireland on this horrible abduction.
As Senator Mullins has said the motion deals with the abduction of more than 230, possibly 270, schoolgirls who were taken from their school in the northern Nigerian state of Borno in mid-April by a group calling itself Boko Haram. We have learned a good deal about this brutal terrorist organisation in recent weeks. There was an excellent article by Elizabeth Donnelly in The Irish Times on Saturday which gave a really good insight into the context for the existence of this Nigerian born organisation, which was founded around 2002 and has been particularly violent since 2009. It has been responsible for some 5,000 killings since then. Boko Haram is opposed to western education, westernisation, secularism and corruption. It is particularly against girls receiving education and in the broader context this raises the discrimination against and oppression of young women and girls across much of the impoverished part of Nigeria in particular. There has been very little information, as Ms Donnelly writes, about the real nature of Boko Haram. She discusses the structure of the organisation, which is very diffuse, that some of its leaders have been killed and that it has become more and more violent as the security forces have sought to address it. The depressing scenario that Ms Donnelly paints is that it is very hard to see how to defeat this faction. She states that the international community is approaching the crisis with caution.
There has been criticism of the slowness of the response internationally to this appalling act, but as she states, making this into an international fight might make the group take on a more international dimension and deepen the crisis. There is a requirement that there would be some action from the international community. It is how this is done that is the question. The US, as we know sent a small team of hostage negotiators to Nigeria. The UK has also sent a small team and President Hollande in France has proposed a summit to try to address the difficulty. If one reads a little more about the context for this, one finds conflicting information as to whether the Nigerian armed forces are capable of finding the girls, rescuing them and tackling the group. There is a good deal of conflicting information.
Nigeria, unquestionably, has one of the strongest armies on the Continent of Africa. The country is reputed to spend about $6 billion on its military and the US gives a substantial amount of funding in aid to the Nigerian military every year. I would be interested in learning the Minister of State's view on this. It seems this is a particularly difficult challenge for the military in Nigeria. There has been a great deal of criticism of the ineffective response of the military and of the Nigerian Government. The Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to rescue the girls, but the parents of the victims for whom we feel immense sympathy have despaired of the capacity of the government to rescue them. We saw reports of the terrible video that Boko Haram produced, showing some of the girls. It is as Senator Mullins said, a relief that they are alive, but it is unthinkable what has been happening to them.
The question that this motion seeks to address is what we in Ireland can do to help the Nigerian Government in its attempt to secure the immediate release of the children. I know the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has given his strong support to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon and the EU High Representative, Ms Catherine Ashton, who have demanded that those responsible will be brought to justice. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade supports the EU in its work to assist the Nigerian authorities. The Irish Embassy in Abuja is also maintaining contact with the Nigerian authorities. As Senator Mullins has said, we have very strong links directly from Ireland to Nigeria. I would like to hear the Minister of State outline how we may best engage with the Nigerian authorities to offer support to them and how best we can support an EU or international initiative to bring those responsible for this crime to justice but most importantly to rescue the girls. I am conscious of the bigger picture, there are many other victims of Boko Haram. They have terrorised many people in the area. This heinous crime has galvanised the international community and has drawn our attention to the outgoing circumstances, in which the group is terrorising the Christian population, rural villagers and children. They killed a group of schoolboys earlier. A significant number of atrocities have been committed by Boko Haram and it is time that stronger action was taken. The difficulty is how best to deal with them.