Address by the Prime Minister of Australia: Motions.

Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (Mr. Kitt)

I move the following motions:

That, to welcome the visit to Ireland of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable John Howard, MP, and to mark the event in a signal manner, the Prime Minister be invited to address the Dáil at 5.15 p.m. on Tuesday, 23 May, the proceedings at such address shall consist of a speech by the Ceann Comhairle welcoming the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's address and an expression of thanks by the Ceann Comhairle for the address; and that the sitting be thereupon suspended until 7 p.m.: Provided that, in the unlikely event Prime Minister Howard, is unable to attend, the Ceann Comhairle may suspend the sitting until 7 p.m.

That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, and unless the Dáil shall otherwise order, in order to facilitate an address by the Honourable John Howard, MP, Prime Minister of Australia, the following arrangements shall apply in relation to the sitting of the Dáil on Tuesday, 23 May 2006:

(1) The sitting shall be suspended at 4.50 until 5.15 p.m, whereupon the address by Prime Minister Howard, MP, shall then be heard;

(2) Immediately following the address by Prime Minister Howard, MP, and the expression of thanks by the Ceann Comhairle, the sitting shall stand suspended until 7 p.m., whereupon the ordinary routine of business shall recommence with private members' business;

(3) In the event of a private notice question being allowed, it shall be taken during the last thirty minutes of the time allowed for the taking of Oral Questions on that day (and the taking of Questions shall not resume thereafter).

The Prime Minister of Australia, the Right Honourable Mr. John Howard, will pay an official visit to Ireland from 20 to 24 May 2006. The Government proposes that he should be invited to address the Dáil during his visit. This courtesy is one the Dáil extends on occasion to visiting Heads of Government of countries with which Ireland has particularly close ties. Australia is certainly one such country. Its links with Ireland go back to its very foundation and have been reinforced by continuous waves of Irish people who for one reason or another have made Australia their home. We in Ireland are grateful to Australia for welcoming them and giving them the opportunity not only to integrate into Australian society but to mould, shape and develop it.

Deputies will remember that the Prime Minister's predecessors, Mr. Hawke and Mr. Keating, addressed the Dáil during their visits to Ireland and I am delighted to propose that we ask Mr. Howard to continue the tradition. This is the first visit to Ireland by a Prime Minister from the Liberal Party of Australia and, given the close historical ties between our two countries, it is a landmark occasion. Historically, the Irish in Australia were linked to the Australian Labour Party but Irish-Australians are now active across the political spectrum. The Prime Minister himself claims some Irish ancestry.

This will be the first visit by Mr. Howard to Ireland since 1977. We know from our preparations for his visit that he is interested in the transformation of the Irish economy and we will be pleased to demonstrate to him the success we have achieved. His visit will also permit us to return the warm hospitality he extended to the Taoiseach and to President McAleese during their respective visits to Australia.

The Prime Minister's official programme will begin on Monday, 22 May, with a wreath-laying ceremony at Kilmainham. He will then meet students from the Australian Studies Centre at University College Dublin. A civic reception will be held for him at the Mansion House, while a lunch organised by Dublin Chamber of Commerce, IBEC and Enterprise Ireland will provide the Prime Minister with an opportunity to meet Irish and Australian business interests. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs will hold official talks with the Prime Minister. Fortunately, our relations with Australia are very good and the talks will focus on how to develop and strengthen our mutual co-operation. The Prime Minister will also be received by President McAleese. The Ceann Comhairle has agreed to meet him, as have the leaders of the Opposition parties and, if the Dáil approves this motion, the Prime Minister will address this House.

The Prime Minister's visit to Ireland provides a valuable opportunity to build on the historically close and increasingly dynamic relationship between Australia and Ireland and to further pursue our mutual interests in expanding trade and investment, people-to-people links and practical co-operation in areas such as research and development, information technology and education.

Ireland's bilateral relations with Australia are excellent. Ireland has had an embassy in Canberra since 1946, the year in which Australia opened its embassy in Dublin. In 2000, Ireland opened a consulate general in Sydney. The President paid an official visit to Australia in March 2003 and her two immediate predecessors also paid State visits.

People-to-people contacts have been widespread and frequent. The working holiday visa scheme for Australia continues to be very successful. Approximately 10,000 Irish young people visit Australia each year under the scheme, while 2,000 Australians visit Ireland. Australia is also an important market for Irish tourism. We estimate that 150,000 Australians visited Ireland in 2005 and we look forward to an increase in this figure with the introduction of better air links. The December 2005 introduction by Gulf Air of direct flights between Dublin and Bahrain, with onward connections to Australia, represented an important development. In March 2006, Aer Lingus introduced direct flights to Dubai, which can connect with Emirates flights to airports in Australia.

Ireland and Australia have a shared interest in culture and sport. As our people moved, they extended the reach of our sport and culture. Australians have proved adept at taking what they inherited to a higher plain, be it Gaelic and Australian rules football, literature, painting, traditional music or Irish dancing. At the recent world Irish dancing championships in Belfast, two young Australians from Wallangra, New South Wales, beat top-class competitors from around the world to become the first male and female winners in the history of Australia's Irish dancing community.

Our trading relations with Australia are healthy and the balance of trade is heavily in our favour. In 2005, two way trade was valued at €864 million, with Irish exports valued at €734 million and imports from Australia at €130 million. In recent years, Irish software companies and farm machinery manufacturers have enjoyed significant success in Australia. Five years ago, I led a successful trade mission to Australia which targeted these sectors. Currently, 44 Irish companies operate in Australia, more than double the 19 that operated there five years ago. There are 35 Australian companies in Ireland, operating in the manufacturing, financial and international services sectors.

The Taoiseach's discussions with the Prime Minister will also allow them to exchange views on the wider relationship between Australia and the European Union. The EU is Australia's largest single economic partner in terms of two way trade in goods and services, the largest investor in Australia and the second largest destination for Australian investment overseas. The Joint Declaration on Relations between the European Union and Australia reaffirms our determination to build up the relationship to support democracy and the rule of law and promote peace, security and non-proliferation. We are particularly interested in the excellent work done under the Agreement Relating to Scientific and Technical Co-operation Between Australia and the European Union.

Australia's genesis and history has fostered a strong interest there in Northern Ireland. Australia was an early contributor to the International Fund for Ireland and has strongly supported the Good Friday Agreement. Deputies will be aware of this Government's interest in developments in the Asia Pacific region and we look forward to hearing the Prime Minister's views on the matter. Closer relations with China and India are a priority for Australia. The Prime Minister has been to China several times and visited India earlier this year for the first time. Given the recent visits to Asia by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, there will obviously be fruitful ground for exchanges of views on this most important region. From my previous experience as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for development co-operation, I am aware of our common interest in the development and well-being of the new state of East Timor. During my time as Minister of State, Ireland added East Timor as a priority country in its aid programme. There will also be an opportunity to discuss other political issues, including issues that have arisen in the United Nations.

I believe the Dáil as well as the Government will be interested in hearing Mr. Howard's views on relations between Australia, Ireland and on wider world issues. Deputies have strong links with their Australian counterparts, developed through exchanges of visits and information. Many Oireachtas committees have gained valuable experience from study visits to Australia. The proposed address to the Dáil by the Prime Minister is another opportunity for a valuable exchange of information and a strengthening of our friendship with a long-standing and important friend. I commend the motions to the House.

Mr. Allen

After winning a fourth term in office in 2004, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Right Honourable Mr. John Howard, became the most electorally successful Australian politician of our time. A popular politician in his country, he is the elected representative of a nation of 20 million people. However, his premiership has not been without controversy. In this decade, international concerns about the war in Iraq, multi-culturalism and the determination of Iran to obtain a nuclear capability have exercised the Australian administration more than most.

Australia and Ireland are bound by ties of friendship and family. We are all aware of the history of emigration from Ireland to Australia and that many Australians look to Ireland for their ancestral roots. Even in Ireland's more successful recent history, the flow from our country to Australia continued unabated, although these days our younger people largely choose to work in Australia as part of a one year visa programme. There is a saying that "Eaten bread is soon forgotten". In this case, it is not good enough to forget the support from brave men and women, many who gave their lives, and contributed to building the type of peace and stability which we so casually take for granted in the western world.

I mention these facts to stress the real friendship between our two countries. As always, friends must be able to speak plainly with each other and our Government should be able to raise with Prime Minister Howard any issue that concerns it, either in terms of our unique relationship or in matters of international politics.

As one pressing example, Prime Minister Howard's strong support for the war in Iraq will worry many, both inside this House and throughout the country. The war in Iraq took place without United Nations sanction and has not been a success — if any war is a success — according to any means of measurement. Fine Gael did not support the unilateral action taken by the United States and the United Kingdom, acting with the strong support of Australia, and which took place without the ratification of the international community through established mechanisms. The Taoiseach should raise this matter directly with the Prime Minister. While we have grave concerns about the manner in which this war was started, concerns that should be expressed clearly and openly, we must also address the dreadful situation which exists in Iraq and in which Iraqis now live. The international community cannot allow Iraq to slide ever closer to civil war, and yet the conditions in that state are so poor, and the actions of radical terrorists so frequent, that the appalling spectre of civil war is ever present.

However, we cannot forget that Australia was also dealt a severe blow by terrorism. In the bombing of a Bali nightclub in October 2002, 202 people lost their lives, many of them young holiday-makers from Australia. In addition, the question of Iranian nuclear development has been to the forefront of international politics and diplomacy for some time. I have long since expressed the view that Ireland, as a non-aligned and non-nuclear country, could and should have a diplomatic role in dealing with Iran as part of the international response to this crisis. I spoke on that issue in the Dáil on Europe Day last week, and I repeat we should not be passive on this issue. We should not allow the European Union position to be left to the United Kingdom, France and Germany, two of which are themselves nuclear nations. I am concerned that the European Union, in delegating the three countries mentioned to negotiate on its behalf, has overlooked some of the smaller member states which have a proven record in the promotion of nuclear disarmament and in combating nuclear proliferation. This matter should also be discussed with Prime Minister Howard, and the potential for Ireland's close involvement in seeking a resolution to this matter put forward.

I would like the Taoiseach to also raise the matter of Australia's access to oil reserves off the coast of East Timor which I understand are disputed. The East Timorese people have suffered considerably, especially in recent decades, and East Timor was finally recognised as an independent state in 2002.

I and my party are very supportive of the visit of Mr. Howard to Ireland, and of his upcoming address to the Oireachtas. We are friendly nations, countries bound by history, family and partnership. We are also linked closely on the playing fields. Australians are known to love their sport, and we have the compromise rules football series between this country and Australia. Being bound very closely, it is right that we should meet and discuss not only our similarities but also our differences, in a spirit of frankness, openness and honesty.

Mr. M. Higgins

I very much appreciate the connection between the people of Australia and of Ireland. My grandmother's brothers and sisters emigrated to Australia. My uncle emigrated there after the Civil War and my aunt emigrated to Australia around the time of my father. We have long family connections with Australia. Moreover, there are many families in County Clare with connections with Queensland and New South Wales.

I have no difficulty in wanting to deepen the relationship between the people of Australia and Ireland, but Mr. Howard brings particular baggage with him. The Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, mentioned how significant it is that Mr. Howard is the first Liberal Australian Prime Minister to visit Ireland. He does so with an extraordinary record. He has pioneered putting Australia outside the ambit of international law. He has shown no respect for human rights. I recall that the longest meeting held by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which I am the longest-serving member, took place when there was an objection to the wording of a resolution we passed congratulating Australia on its constitution, because I had included a sentence referring to the original inhabitants of Australia. Around the time the members of my family at the end of the 19th century were emigrating to Australia, the Privy Council of the United Kingdom described Australia as attractive territory, practically unoccupied, without settled inhabitants or settled law. Later on, when it was advocating its theory of terra nullius, an empty country, it went on to refine the notion that it did not have civilised people or civilised law. When I asked that on the occasion of the celebration of the Australian constitution it was time that the original occupants of Australia be recognised, my suggestion was described as inaccurate, unhelpful and unfriendly.

All this does not stop anyone raising any of these issues, although I have no confidence they will be raised. Will the Iraq issue be raised? As this House has already heard, Mr. Howard has supported the principle of pre-emption, which places a country outside the ambit of international law. He has spoken savagely against the rights of trade unions. He has changed the law with regard to the press, for example if a person is detained, and one comments on that in the public press. Allegedly he has a unique macho attitude towards boat people, those who come through the seas to Australia. We need not be coy about the relationship with East Timor, because the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, has an admirable record in assisting its people. Mr. Howard, instead of robbing all their oil and granting them 20% as was formerly the case, is now willing to concede to them 50%. Should he be thanked for that? We could also question Mr. Howard's general attitude towards Asia.

Mr. Howard comes with a unique background and record. Our friendship with the people of Australia is mediated through the millions of people there of Irish extraction. They will be looking to us to make sure Mr. Howard hears the full Irish view, that it expresses our official position of neutrality and of — I believe — our official position of being against the Iraq war, with our nuanced assistance to the war effort through Shannon Airport. Those people will also want to hear from us that the strength of a small country and its influence in the international world is in its respect for law and its respect for the most vulnerable boat people. We do not admire the dragging of a boat through the seas and watching it sink, nor the placing of people in detention camps, nor the abuse of law in all its principles in the name of an anti-terrorist campaign.

All of that having been said, the representative of the Australian people will always be welcome here. People who are elected should be spoken to. However, it is not a curiosity nor an exotic achievement that Mr. Howard is the first Liberal Australian Prime Minister visiting Ireland. There were people who visited before who were not without blemish, in different times, but they came with a particular kind of connection to things we could share in the international labour movement, the international human rights movement, the United Nations and all these areas. I suggest that on this occasion, our valuable economic relationships should be a footnote in the preparations for Mr. Howard's visit, and we should be determined to — with courtesy, courage and frankness — present the Irish view, and the view of Irish in Australia, on all of these issues to Mr. Howard, for his reflection. Our Parliament, in a small country, is at its best when it speaks on and defends issues of principle. It is probably at its worst when it decides to sideline those issues of principle for any flimsy, narrow or shallow advantage.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

I will share time with Deputy Joe Higgins and Deputy Gormley.

Prime Minister Howard will visit Ireland as a representative of all the people of Australia and, therefore, should be accorded a dignified and inclusive welcome in the House. His and his Government's involvement in the war in Iraq is, of course, an issue of great concern to me and other Members of the House. However, it is also a concern for the more than 50% of the Australian people who openly oppose their armed forces' presence in Iraq. I stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their campaign of opposition to the illegal occupation of Iraq, just as I vehemently oppose the disgraceful accommodation of US armed forces at Shannon by the Irish Government. Prime Minister Howard should be advised clearly of our views.

Last week, a committee of the Dáil accommodated the presence and participation of a visiting EU Commissioner, an unelected voice of the European Union. Next Tuesday, we will hear an address by Mr. John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia. Both of these events have been and will be facilitated and supported by the leaders of the Fine Gael and Labour Parties. When will these two parties recognise the insult they have delivered to over 1.5 million of our fellow Irish citizens in the Six Counties whose chosen Members of Parliament they have blocked from receiving the same accommodation, a committee of the whole Dáil, as was accorded to Commissioner Fischer Boel? There are real issues to be addressed in the context of both of these visits.

Mr. J. Higgins

The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Howard, is not welcome in Ireland. Prime Minister Howard is a warmonger, complicit with Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair in the criminal invasion of Iraq and compliant with the ongoing occupation of Iraq, with Australian troops in that country. Prime Minister Howard is the author of vicious, anti-trade union legislation designed to strip away workers' rights which were hard won by the Australian working class over many generations. During the Australian general election of 2001, in order to win votes from an entrenched bigoted minority, Prime Minister Howard pedalled the monstrous falsehood that desperate refugees fleeing Iraq had thrown their children over the side of a ship as they were prevented from landing in Australia by the Australian navy. When it was proved that this was a vicious lie, he did not retract it or apologise.

Every day the Australian Government steals €1 million worth of oil and gas from the Timor Sea, resources that by international law belong to East Timor. The unfortunate Timorese people live in abject poverty while their resources are stolen by the Australian Government. Not too many generations ago, an imperial power sent thousands of Irish people in chains to Australia after waging war against them, robbing their resources and telling the world of that time that they were savages. With Prime Minister Howard at its head, the Australian Government, now acting as a local imperial power, is replicating these injustices against the poorest people on earth.

The noted Australian folk hero, Ned Kelly, in his famous Jerilderie letter, railed against the repression of the poor by the powerful and the rich. I believe that is also the instinct of the Australian working class, one of the reasons Ned Kelly is held in fond memory. I do not know what he would say today with regard to Mr. Howard coming to this House given what he had to say about those in authority who repressed and brutalised his family and community. There should be a céad míle fáilte roimh Australian people in Ireland but not the Prime Minister.

Mr. Gormley

The Australian Greens do not have a good relationship with Prime Minister John Howard. My Australian colleague, Senator Bob Brown, has been one of his harshest critics. Mr. Howard is on the same side as George W. Bush on a plethora of international issues. Australia has not signed up to the Kyoto Protocol even though global warming is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity. Mr. Howard has been a supporter of the Iraq war and while he said during the campaign that no further troops would be allocated to Iraq, that promise was broken. He claimed, together with George Bush and Tony Blair, that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which of course turned out to be a lie.

This was not the first occasion where we saw Mr. Howard's tenuous relationship with the truth. The famous "children overboard" story also turned out to be a lie, which was unscrupulously exploited during a campaign to make people fearful about what was perceived as an invasion by foreigners.

He also has a poor relationship with the gay community in Australia.

In November of last year, he tried to introduce the anti-terrorism Bill, again stoking fears, and a number of raids were made on houses throughout Melbourne and Sydney. As the Greens said on that occasion, this showed anti-terrorism legislation was not required because sufficient powers existed in any event to perform raids and so forth. Others have alluded to his total contempt for the trade union movement which has resulted in approximately 560,000 people demonstrating on Australia's streets in protest against many of the legislative proposals Mr. Howard is introducing.

Mr. Howard is a neo-liberal who, I believe, is changing the world for the worse. I would certainly like the opportunity, as would my party leader, Deputy Sargent, to articulate some of our concerns to him. We will not get that opportunity but we will be happy to sit here and listen to what he has to say. However, as far as his politics are concerned, we in the Green Party are very critical of the man.

Question put: "That the motions be agreed to."

Deputies

Vótáil.

Deputies

Where is the Green Party leader, Deputy Sargent?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

It was agreed on the Order of Business to take the two motions together.

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 18 May 2006