Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. It is obvious that he is very engaged with and understands this situation. I can say from my personal knowledge that the former Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, is equally committed to this process and has spent a lot of time on it. He was there when the initial peace process came to a false dawn and did not come to pass. He has worked incessantly ever since to secure the peace deal that was brokered three years ago and to make it work. As I said in my opening comments, we have learned that this is not a linear or quick process. There are lots of areas that need to be worked on. Condemnation is simple, but is it effective? We need to work with people to persuade them, as has happened in South Africa, Mozambique, Latin America and other places. We need people to engage. Over the years our President has been very involved in Central America in his previous roles as a Minister and Deputy. There is a lot of work to be done. There are lessons from all over the world which we can pick up on. Hopefully those lessons will be accepted and taken up by the political leadership in Colombia. That is absolutely essential if it is to work. We see this ourselves and we sometimes fail to understand why others do not, but we have to work with them. That is very important. That is why we want to get a seat on the UN Security Council in 2021.