I am sure we can consider Deputy Connor's request during the interval to see if we can be helpful.
I am extremely pleased to participate in the discussion of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs for the first time today. As I have already made clear, I warmly welcome the establishment of this committee and the opportunity it provides for regular and reflective discussion across a whole spectrum of foreign policy issues.
When I spoke on the floor of the House on 28 April, introducing the motion establishing this Select Committee, I set out what I see as some of the key ingredients and defining characteristics of Irish foreign policy. Given the time constraints, I will not seek to develop that analysis further today. However, as we undertake our examination of the Revised Estimates for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, it is well to acknowledge that no debate about resources allocation is value-free. Underlying any discussion on these Votes are some implicit assumptions about the proper scope and direction of Irish foreign policy.
There are two widely differing views on this subject which are quite commonly articulated. At one end of the spectrum there are the minimalists, who tend to view the foreign service as essentially a luxury the country cannot afford, or who see our embassies as justified simply in foreign earnings terms. At the other extreme there are the maximalists, who argue that our foreign policy to date has been radically underdeveloped, with too many political and moral imperatives ignored, and insufficient reflection of the traditional outward-looking approach of Irish people. The first of these views is extremely short-sighted; the second does not always take sufficient account of the constraints within which we must operate.
It makes little sense to prescribe a kind of political isolationism as a response to our economic difficulties. We would be wrong to undervalue the political, cultural and consular dimensions of foreign policy. It is undoubtedly true that Irish diplomatic missions have a crucial role to play in advancing Irish trade and investment interests. With nearly 300,000 people unemployed in Ireland, promotion of foreign earnings must, and does, rank among the very highest priorities in planning and resource allocation. But it can never be the exclusive frame of reference, nor indeed can the development of foreign earnings take place in isolation from the wider political and economic background of international relations. Foreign policy involves the projection of a whole series of interests and concerns and the balancing of one against the other when they come into conflict.
It is perhaps also worth making the point that a one-dimensional foreign policy is unlikely to succeed even in its own terms. Within the European Community, for example, we sometimes find ourselves articulating a vital national interest; at other times the issues are principally of concern to other member states or of general common interest. But in my experience we are much more likely to receive a hearing if we are an informed and respected voice across the full range of issues rather than seeking the floor simply to advance or defend an interest that is parently national.
To the foreign policy maximalists I would say that I share many of your instincts, but it is important that they be tempered with a sense of realism. The Irish diplomatic network is small — apart from Luxembourg, we have fewer than half the number of overseas missions of any EC country. Although we would hope to develop our network in a modest way over the next few years, the financial and personnel constraints will certainly continue to limit what is possible. We cannot have a presence in every part of the world nor actively espouse every worthwhile cause on the international agenda. Irish foreign policy is likely to be most successful if it is highly focused, with prioritisation of efforts around a limited number of key objectives.
The Anglo-Irish agenda and the EC agenda will continue to be uppermost in any ordering of our priorities. The committee's discussion today takes place in the aftermath of the bilateral summit in London and in the run-up to the European Council in Copenhagen. In their different ways the issues arising at both these meetings are crucial for every man, woman and child in this country.
I have availed of other occasions to set out my views in detail on the Northern Ireland situation. Today I will simply underline again the importance of an early resumption of talks. We are all aware of difficulties that lie in the way and the position of some of the Northern parties, which are not particularly encouraging at present. At the same time we must be conscious that it is all too easy to develop a rationale for inaction. At the summit in London earlier this week both Governments were concerned to avoid that pitfall and determined that their resources should be brought to bear as fully as possible on the search for political progress. What we urgently need now is a genuine commitment on all sides to work actively to create the conditions in which movement can take place.
The prospects for the ratification by the autumn of the Maastricht Treaty look good and the Copenhagen Summit next week should see the European Community back on track again. It has been a difficult year for the Community, with serious jolts caused by the Danish rejection of the Maastricht Treaty and the monetary crisis. The difficulties and complexities of moving towards European Union have been graphically underlined. But the underlying impulse has remained intact and the Community's ambitions have survived. Indeed it is a measure of faith in the Community that negotiations on enlargement are now under way and we are in the process of deepening the Community's relations with the rest of Europe.
Progress is now being made in the enlargement negotiations. Some of the most sensitive areas, such as agriculture and regional policy, will be addressed in the near future. The applicant countries are now in the process of developing their negotiating positions and holding preliminary contacts with the Commission. The next stage will be for the Commission to make proposals to the Council as to how particular problem areas may be addressed. I know that this committee plans to follow the enlargement negotiations carefully and I look forward to drawing on the ideas that will emerge from your considerations.
If the EC has had its difficulties in recent times, no single issue has preoccupied the member states as much as the need to develop an effective response to the situation in the former Yugoslavia. The scale of the violence and wanton destruction has been horrific. Values which we had taken to be part of the fabric of European civilisation have been ruthlessly set aside.
Members of the committee are familiar with the efforts that have been made over many months to find a way forward. As successive initiatives to bring peace to the area have been undermined by further violence on the ground, the sense of utter frustration — a sense which I fully share — has increased. But it would be even more tragic if we allowed our anger and frustration to turn to resignation and despair. The efforts to find a comprehensive political settlement must continue. The renewed negotiations in Geneva this week and the prospect of a ceasefire, scheduled to come into effect today, give at least some grounds for hope.
I know that the committee has been fully briefed on the various elements of the Government's approach. These include: support for the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia; Involvement on the ground — 36 Irish Defence Forces personnel and members of the Garda Síochána are serving with the EC Monitor Mission, the UN peace-keeping force, UNPROFOR, and the EC Humanitarian Aid Task Force in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Albania; assistance to refugees and displaced persons — in 1993, £320,000 has, to date, been allocated for former Yugoslavia, including £250,000 to UNHCR as the lead agency co-ordinating the international relief effort; support for the victims of rape, including the training of a group of counsellors from former Yugoslavia who are currently in Ireland for intensive training with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in assistance to rape victims; support for the efforts to bring those responsible for war crimes in former Yugoslavia to justice through the establishment of an international tribunal.
I have carefully read the terms of the committee's resolution on the situation in the former Yugoslavia. I believe that the objectives it identifies correspond closely to the policy which the Government are pursuing and I can therefore assure the committee that I will take them fully into account. The issue of refugees is one which the Government will need to consider further before any decision is taken.
In regard to Somalia, the tragedy of a country torn apart by conflict perhaps strikes us most vividly when it happens in the heart of Europe; but the interaction of natural and man-made disasters in parts of Africa provides at least as grim a spectacle. The attack on UN soldiers in Mogadishu two weeks ago resulted in the largest loss of life in a UN operation since the sixties. Yesterday again UNOSOM suffered some casualties. Civilians, too, have been killed and wounded.
These are matters of the utmost concern, especially since a transport unit from the Permanent Defence Force is scheduled to go to Somalia within weeks. The Dáil will have an opportunity to discuss this in detail shortly. If Dáil approval is forthcoming, this will be the first time that an Army unit will serve with a UN peace-enforcement operation, UNOSOM II, established under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
The Government decided that we should participate in UNOSOM II to show our concrete support for the UN in its efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia. Participation also reflects our commitment to upholding the role of the UN in maintaining world peace and security, even in difficult and complex situations. Our participation will strengthen our position in demanding protection for our aid workers by troops from other countries.
We regret and deplore the killings and deaths, particularly of women and children, in Mogadishu. We sympathise with the Somali people, who have suffered terribly at the hands of the warlords. We must pay tribute to all those, including Valerie Place, from many countries, who have given their lives for the cause of peace and reconciliation in Somalia.
We welcome the UN's decision to investigate the recent incidents in Mogadishu. I hope that the investigation will be a full one and will draw the necessary lessons both for the operation in Somalia itself and for future UN operations of this kind. It would be deeply worrying if the UN forces, whose objectives is peace, became the focus of resentment or rejection of the Somali people. We have made our concerns known to the UN at a very high level and will continue to follow developments closely.
I have spoken about the situations in the former Yugoslavia and in Somalia because they are the crises most pressingly on our minds. As we know, a common feature to both situations is the presence or intended presence of Irish personnel on UN service.
Subheads 1 and 2 of the International Co-operation Vote deal with our contributions to international organisations. The UN contribution at around £3 million is very substantial and has crept steadily upwards as the UN expands its peacekeeping operations in various parts of the world. The challenges that face the UN have never been greater. The new political landscape which emerged from the collapse of the Cold War has freed the organisation from the sterile, ideological divisions that beset it in the past. There is a new sense of urgency and revitalisation. Although universally welcomed, this global transition has been accompanied by outbreaks of civil and ethnic strife in various regions of the world.
New and more costly demands have been placed on the UN, including requests for peace-keeping missions to resolve these conflicts. The recent establishment of a mission for Mozambique brings to 13 the total number of peace-keeping missions now under UN aegis. UN peacekeepers in the field currently total 80,000, a figure that will rise to 90,000 with the full deployment of the operation in Somalia. Some 10,000 civilians are also serving with the various peacekeeping missions.
Apart from peacekeeping, there is a whole range of other areas where policy is being developed by the UN and new initiatives are being undertaken. The human rights area deserves particular mention. Earlier this week I addressed the World Conference on Human Rights which is being held in Vienna from 14 to 25 June. Ireland, as one of the three original co-sponsors of the resolution calling for a World Conference, played an active part in the preparatory phase and I am confident the final outcome, the Declaration of Vienna, will reflect many of the concerns which underpin our approach, including: reaffirmation of the universality of human rights as minimum standards which are the obligation of every government to safeguard; the adoption of positive measures to reinforce existing mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights; increased resources, including financial resources, for the UN Centre for Human Rights and the establishment of a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; action in support of women's rights and against gender discrimination and violence against women.
The other subheads of the International Co-operation Vote essentially deal with development co-operation. The past year has seen a raising of Ireland's profile on development issues. The visit of President Robinson to Somalia has rightly been hailed as a crucial factor in directing world attention to the problems of that country. More recently, the courageous efforts of Irish agencies, such as Goal and Concern, to bring aid to the starving people of southern Sudan have been widely admired.
I am happy to say that funding for Offical Development Assistance is substantially higher in 1993 than last year. In overall cash terms it amounts to £53 million compared to £40.7 million in 1992. In GNP terms our ODA will amount to 0.2 per cent this year compared with 0.16 per last year. In reaching this target we will be delivering on the first part of the pledge contained in the programme for Government which undertook to raise ODA to 0.2 per cent in 1993 and by 0.05 per cent each year thereafter.
I am personally very satisfied that we are meeting our commitment on ODA this year and I intend to do all in my power to ensure that we continue to meet the targets set in the Programme for Government. We have a proud record in this country of helping those least able to help themselves. I believe that there is strong public support for raising the level of ODA, which had fallen in recent years. The Irish public have shown through their private donations that they have a deep concern for and solidarity with the people of the developing nations. My aim is to reflect those views by maintaining a high standard ODA programme which delivers aid effectively to those in need.
My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, will describe the main features of the budget when we come to discuss the Vote for International Co-operation. Let me just say that the hallmarks of the 1993 Estimates for ODA are consolidation and modest increase. The target for the years ahead is to build up the volume of our programme steadily so as to put it on a par with those of our European partners while maintaining its quality, which has drawn praise from many quarters.
We hope to publish plans for the expansion of the ODA programme before the summer recess. It is important to have a clear picture of what we intend to do since so many aid projects have a long lead-in time and involve a multiannual commitment. I also intend that the plan should address issues such as a new advisory body on ODA, greater involvement of and co-financing with non-governmental organisations like Concern, Goal and Trócaire; a restatement of the principles which underpin our approach to ODA, and measures to improve the image of the programme and the public's knowledge of it.
I understand that this committee is to set up a sub-committee to deal specifically with development co-operation. There is considerable expertise available on ODA in both Houses of the Oireachtas and I believe that discussion in this forum will be to our mutual benefit.
Before concluding, I would like to return briefly to the Foreign Affairs Vote. At about half of 1 per cent of the Government's annual non-capital expenditure, it represents a relatively small slice of Government spending; but particularly at this time of budgetary stringency the Department is determined to ensure that the allocation is spent efficiently and efectively, with value for money a foremost consideration.
We need neither overstate nor undervalue Ireland's potential influence on world affairs. We do not carry any particular clout by virtue of our size or economic weight, but our emigrants and aid workers have brought knowledge of Ireland around the world. Our traditional stance on peacekeeping, disarmament and human rights issues has won us respect. Our EC membership means that we are now part of a grouping which is set to be increasingly influential on the world stage.
The assistance of this committee will be very important in helping to build on the legacy and confront the challenges that lie ahead. I will be very happy to answer any questions members may have on any aspects of these Vote.
I am conscious that it is a matter for you, Chairman, and the members of the committee to decide on the format, but let me make some practical suggestions which may be of help. It occurs to me that questions could be usefully grouped together in the following general categories: first, administrative budgetary issues covered in the various subheads of the Foreign Affairs Vote and, second, various policy matters that may be of interest to the committee and which may be discussed in sequence, such as Northern Ireland, the European Community and its economic aspects and international political developments. By agreement, the afternoon session will be confined solely to development co-operation.
