Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am generally supportive of the comments from Senators Wilson and Ó Murchú on Leader funding. I and many others were probably remiss when the original legislation went through the Oireachtas. I do not suppose it is feasible that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government would come before the House this afternoon but I hope we will have some opportunity with the new Minister next week to debate the issue. All of us who have represented a rural constituency would be very much aware of the tremendous work done by Leader projects, with real jobs created by people on the ground. It would be a shame to see an end to that type of process. The concept of bringing this closer to local government might be fine but, unfortunately, the sort of local government we now have, especially with the new electoral areas, is very distant from communities. There are large geographical council areas, some of which are 70 or 80 miles long, which means the government is not really local or community-based. The Leader programme would be very much out of place in such a structure, and I hope the Leader of the House might facilitate a debate at the earliest opportunity on the matter.

I support Senator Quinn's comments regarding the need for a balanced debate on the Middle East. We spoke about the matter yesterday and many times previously. I am surprised, from an Irish perspective of history and politics, there is so little empathy among the broader Irish body politic for the people and State of Israel. As an Irish nation we speak about a history of being downtrodden for hundreds of years but I hope we have some degree of empathy and sympathy for people who have been downtrodden for thousands of years. This is a small state in the Middle East, the only genuinely democratic country in the region, and the people of this country should have a much stronger affinity with Israel. I appreciate that a balanced solution is required but the presentation of Israel as somehow always being wrong is very incorrect. We need to open our eyes a little to some of the more profound problems in the Middle East. Some countries, states, governments and extremists have an avowed policy to destroy Israel and write it off the global map. It is an aspiration of certain groupings, states and militias in the Middle East. If such a policy were pursued against our country, we would take very strong defensive measures.