ALTHOUGH much was made of the Celtic Tiger, there seemed to be no statistic on global poverty shocking enough to find its way into our recent preelection debates. Complex arguments taking place on reform of the United Nations humanitarian system, or the international debate on the appropriate response to the famine in North Korea in the face of the bullish, aggressive government there, were not issues in Ireland over the past six weeks. Nonetheless they have to be tackled urgently by the incoming Government.
It is quite clear that Ireland has much to contribute to international policy debates. As a neutral nation and a former colony with a strong commitment to human rights protection, our voice in these debates is welcome and respected; yet such issues receive stunningly little public debate. They never surface in preelection posturing. Our new elected representatives will, however, now go on to mould European policies, and through the United Nations system, will determine international policies which will have impact on poor countries for generations.
The lack of public interest in international affairs might have contributed to the recent blow dealt to the Minister of state with special responsibility for Overseas Development Aid, Ms Joan Burton. According to The Irish Times's assessment of the losers in this campaign (June 9th), while Joan Burton "was regarded as one of the most enlightened deputies to have held the overseas development aid brief... Africa was never going to win her too many votes in west Dublin."
There is little appreciation in this election result that the past few years have been no ordinary spell for Africa. The genocide that took place in central Africa in 1994 has changed irrevocably the political and economic fabric of the entire continent. The recent events in central Africa, including the massive movement of millions of refugees throughout the region and the recent overthrow of the tyrant Mobutu in Zaire, have all taken place during Joan Burton's tenure.
While Dublin West has given her little reward, the Minister is internationally acclaimed for responding to these unprecedented challenges with intelligence and integrity during Ireland's Presidency of the European Union.
In the context of such international responsibilities it is a great relief that the parochial and insular "family value" parties received little encouragement in this election. However, the election has delivered a number of new Fianna Fail TDs who emanate from similar values and who have promised to work for more restrictive policies on reproductive rights. While Mary Hanafin in Dun Laoghaire has commented that the recently deposed Niamh Bhreathnach tried to "rush" things such as the relationship and sexuality education programme through the education system, Hanafin may be surprised that the Minister was merely implementing the directives of the 1994 UN Document on Population and Development.
The UN treatise was negotiated in Cairo by Fianna Fail's Tom Kitt, then Minister for Overseas Development Cooperation, and Labour's Brendan Howlin, then Minister for Health. The document clearly states that "governments are to respect and promote the rights of adolescents to reproductive health education, information and care, and ... address adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues, including unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDs through the promotion of responsible and healthy reproductive and sexual behaviour."
What will the new Government make of the Cairo document, which stresses that 150,000 Latin American women die each year in the process of procuring illegal dangerous abortions and that "the international community must do all that it can to address this tragedy"?
Tremendous challenges also face the proposed new coalition Government on the issue of international agricultural policy. The next round of negotiations on further reform of the trade are due to begin at the World Trade Organisation meeting in May 1998. As it is widely believed that previous reforms have not gone far enough, the EU will be under massive pressure to hasten the reduction of agricultural subsidies now paid to EU farmers.
Third world countries are arguing for the introduction of more effective WTO rules to outlaw the dumping of agricultural surpluses.
In the preelection period Oxfam carried out a survey of the major parties on international affairs and found that while Fianna Fail "favours the continuation of MacSharry CAP reforms" and believes Ireland should be assisting Third World countries, "not dumping on them", the Progressive Democrats "support the principles of the CAP" and "are not be taken as critical of the CAP". They are also not "anxious to see too rapid a change" in the system.
In addition, in spite of a huge volume of evidence to the contrary, the Progressive Democrats believe that "phrases like subsidised overproduction and export dumping of agricultural produce in the Third World are emotive phrases. They exaggerate the situation."
We also asked the parties if the EU should legislate a multilateral export control policy on conventional arms and weapons related dual use goods.
On behalf of Fianna Fail, Ray Burke stated that such a policy "must be a priority". Fianna Fail is "opposed to any encouragement of an arms trade and arms industry within Europe".
Des O'Malley of the Progressive Democrats commented that "ideally" the EU should pursue such legislation, but that the question was "slightly naive, because, unhappily, the prospect of it being achieved is zero".
While the new coalition partners say they have found common ground on the economy, on drugs and crime, there is little evidence that they have similar notions with regard to our global responsibility and foreign policy. Because there was no demand from the media or from the voters to explicitly debate these issues such incoherence should come as little surprise. These uncoordinated policies do, however, threaten to lead to vague, indecisive and unimpressive representation in international forums.
In the recent election the voters have sent a strong message to their TDs: don't stray too far from the local perspective, don't stay away too long, and by all means, put local needs first.
If we continue to punish our elected representatives for their international commitments, we will, of course, simply continue to have new and inexperienced TDs doing our international business: individuals who excel at local politics, but who do not have the experience to respond to the nuances and realities of international politicking, negotiating and leadership. The development cooperation department is bound to be a punishment for any upcoming Minister if such is the case.