Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the United States Administration on announcing yesterday that it will send 3,000 military personnel to help fight the ebola crisis in Liberia and Sierra Leone. This initiative demonstrates the humanitarianism at the heart of the American psyche, which is sometimes undervalued internationally, particularly by people who constantly criticise the United States in other areas. In that context, the former Minister of State and current chief executive of GOAL, Mr. Barry Andrews, has written an article in which he calls on the Government to do more in this area. He has urged it to provide greater financial assistance as well as logistical support by seconding to the region more HSE staff, specifically clinicians, and sending military personnel. I ask the Leader to convey these sentiments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Will the Leader indicate what response the Minister will have to what is now a growing international concern about the spread of ebola in east Africa?

Could I use the platform of these Houses to ask the Russian and Chinese ambassadors - from two of the major countries with representatives on the UN Security Council, which is trying to co-ordinate humanitarian assistance - to have their countries step up to the plate? I rarely see any reference to either China or Russia providing humanitarian assistance on the scale provided by the United States. Are the people in these countries any less human than the rest of mankind? Do people sit in Beijing and Moscow with their heads under the parapet while at the same time furthering their own national interests? This is particularly salient with regard to China, which has advanced its own interests on the African continent. Will these countries step up to the plate and provide humanitarian assistance internationally rather than remaining silent? I do not think anybody in this House can remember hearing of Chinese or Russian personnel engaging in humanitarian activities along the lines of what the Americans have initiated in the past 24 hours. I hope this issue might be conveyed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. It would be interesting to hear what Ireland, as a small country, can do. Like the Americans but unlike the Russians and Chinese - unless I hear evidence to the contrary - we have a big heart.