Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, is very welcome to the House. If I may, I will touch for a moment on an issue that is not related to foreign affairs. As a fellow member of the all-party Oireachtas cycling group, I commend him on his work on cycle safety. I wish him the very best with the minimum passing distance law which I hope will be introduced without any further delay. I know the Dublin Cycling Campaign and others are working with him on it.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade I am delighted to engage with the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on a range of issues. We look forward to having the Minister before us at the committee on 1 March and I will certainly raise issues with him then. I am conscious that colleagues have raised issues around the undocumented Irish. Senator Lawless has done much work on votes for the diaspora, the Government commitment on which I very much welcome, having been involved with the Constitutional Convention which recommended that we would have votes for the diaspora in presidential elections. Others have spoken also on PESCO.

On the day that is in it, the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, when we commemorate the centenary of women's suffrage, I very much welcome the Minister of State's commitment to ensure gender equality is at the forefront of our international work, in particular as he said when Ireland becomes the chair of the Commission on the Status of Women later this year.

In the brief time available to me, and so as to allow time for Senator Buttimer to speak, I wish to touch on Irish Aid. As the Minister of State is aware, the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has been conducting a review in conjunction with the Department, and we hope to launch our report on Irish Aid at the end of February. We heard from many stakeholders in the area and a number of issues were addressed. Members of the committee travelled to Malawi, a key partner country for Ireland. We are keen to ensure the Government takes forward the implementation of the sustainable development goals in the Irish Aid programme, with a specific focus on gender, education, climate change and agriculture. We have also called for a whole-of-Government approach to overseas development. We very much recognise the very positive feedback we get from partner countries and from those working in development in terms of Irish Aid's programme and the significant benefit it has brought about.

One thing we are keen to emphasise is that we would seek to reach our commitment on the spending of 0.7% of GNI on overseas development aid. I very much welcome the comment in the Minister of State's speech that he will be developing a pathway towards reaching that goal. He also said the Tánaiste will bring proposals in that respect to Government very soon.I very much hope we will see it. The committee will certainly be working to support it because, in its report, it will be setting out in detail a proposal for how we can achieve our target on a phased basis. We are conscious that Ireland is still some way off achieving it. We were only at a figure of 0.33% in 2016. That is a key issue that will certainly be raised in the report.

On ongoing humanitarian crises, colleagues have referred to the Rohingya people and the need for an independent investigation in that regard. I raised the matter with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney, some months ago and was glad to see in his response to me that the Government would be pushing for an impartial, independent investigation into events, particularly in Rakhine State. I very much support the Minister's work in that regard.

Colleagues have referred to the conflict in Syria. With regard to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, as a neutral state within the European Union, Ireland should be referring to the powers behind them - the powers that are really causing the humanitarian crises. I refer to Russia's backing of the brutal Assad regime in Syria, on which we have had quite a number of hearings at meetings of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. This morning I was glad to screen a film by Ronan Tynan and Anne Daly of Esperanza Productions, "Syria: The Impossible Revolution". It sets out the context and background to the horrific conflict which has claimed so many lives. There is still enormous displacement of people across Syria, with civilians being targeted and sieges in East Ghouta and other places. I am happy to work with the Irish Syria Solidarity Movement in trying to highlight the plight of the Syrian people and the backing of the Assad regime by other powers such as Russia and Iran which has resulted in the regime being propped up. The same applies to the forgotten crisis in Yemen which others have mentioned and in which there have been terrible civilian casualties. Saudi Arabia has been complicit in the brutality. Ireland should be taking a strong stand against the backing of brutal regimes by other powers.

On the conflict in Palestine and the Middle East, I am glad that we had the debate last week on Senator Francis Black's Bill on the occupied territories. I am also glad that the Minister adopted a co-operative approach to it. I hope he, Senator Frances Black and her colleagues will liaise on the matter to ensure progress is made on the Bill which is an important one. It is important that we take action, particularly on the settlements which are illegal under international law. The Labour Party has a strong track record on Palestinian rights.

Although I know that it is not strictly a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - it is a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality - we need to recognise our role in Ireland in taking in more refugees and ensuring generosity in granting a right to work to those living in direct provision centres. I hope we will see speedy action being taken by the Government in that regard. My colleague Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has taken a strong stance on the issue and been right.

Recently I was pleased to attend the Holocaust memorial event. The resonance between the position on the plight of refugees fleeing from conflict across the Mediterranean and Ireland's lack of generosity in taking in Jewish refugees during the Second World War was actually noted by the Taoiseach when he spoke at the event.

On Brexit, I do not agree with Senator Frank Feighan. I do not believe many agree with his position on the Commonwealth. However,I do agree with him on how disastrous Brexit will be for Ireland. A number of members of the committee met the House of Commons Exiting the European Union Committee just a week and a half ago. We presented a cross-party consensus to its chairman, Mr. Hilary Benn, and his colleagues on just how seriously detrimental Brexit would be to Ireland. We left them very clear on the effect it would have. It is crucial that we have ongoing parliamentary engagement with Members of Parliament in Britain and Members of the House of Lords. I am glad that, as part of Vótáil 100, a group of us will be travelling to the House of Commons on 28 February to present a portrait of Constance Markievicz. It will be the first time the British will recognise officially her position as the first woman Member of Parliament who was elected in 1918.