By Shane Burke
Sure
it will be grand
As
many people know the Irish state can be slow to do positive things for the
minority groups that live in the country to the point we have become used to
hearing stories of asylum speakers spending many years waiting for their
applications to be processed, and being forced to live on a pittance. The
latest topic where the government could have shown leadership, but failed was international
development while not a big vote winner the conference Financing For
Development conference in Addis Ababa was crucially important for the world’s
poorest.
How
did the government fail in the area of international development? It failed by
not treating the area as serious as it should be in regards to the Financing for
Development Conference in Addis Ababa on July 13th-16th.
This conference was where where high profile of at least ministerial meet to
discuss how to help the African continent going forward in the following ways
as agreed in the Doha Declaration.
- Agreeing that at least half of all aid goes to the least developed countries.
- Funding basic services such as education, and healthcare.
- Developing the economy of African nations to make sure they have better infrastructure, transport etc
While
Ireland sent Minister of State for Development Trade-Promotion, and North Side
Co-operation Sean Sherlock the problem is other sent even more important
members of their government one such person is Chinese Finance Minister Lou
Jiwei; considering the finance minister is often seen as the successor to the
national leader when he leaves office this is a big deal Ireland is not treating
the conference seriously. At the very least the man in charge of the public
purse Finance Minister Michael Noonan should attend since he has ultimate say
on how the state spends the money it has on foreign aid.
Unfortunately
despite, the best efforts of One.org are the government did not have a change
of heart, and strengthen the Irish delegation. Hopefully groups such as this can
make a difference, but this latest event illustrates the states prior history
of not adequately addressing the needs of foreigners in general issues such as direct
provision leaves people indignant since they are forbidden from working while
their application for asylum is being processed. This allows foreign people to
be easily portrayed as living off the taxpayer when it is the government that
forces them into this predicament; to be blunt the government has extend more
of the Christian charity that a party such as Fine Gael proclaims to be
influenced by.
Strangely
for a party that is supposed to be focused on justice for all there is a deafening
silence from them when it comes to making sensible laws to make life easier for
immigrants, but as usual politics reflects wider societal values, and the sad
truth is Irish people care more about their own backyards than helping others.
Upon reading the previous statement no doubt some will feel outraged that such
a thing could be said, but the evidence is there to support the claims made a
previous Immigrant Council of Ireland report claimed at least 33% of TDs feared
doing anything that might be considered as helping immigrants to Ireland out of
fear they could ruin their electoral prospects. Who do TD’s work for? The Irish
public if national representatives are not strongly supporting immigrants it is
because of the attitudes of their constituents.
Yet,
that is the problem Irish parliamentarians are afraid to show leadership, and
appear to care nothing for guiding principles to a significant portion all that
matters is keeping the seat they won without offending the locals. What they need
to do is explain to those they represent the benefits of a strong African
economy to Irish citizens should Africa emerge as a developed economy over time
who will they want to buy goods from? Western countries including Ireland, but
until the government changes its attitude from sure it will be grand when it
comes to helping immigrants not much will occur to make anyone’s life better in
the world.
Links
Foreign aid can create a lot of discussion and anger from people who do not think we should give any financial assistance to developing countries - I believe, just like racism, that there needs to be some sort of training or information sessions in local community groups regarding the true situation and advantage of giving financial assistance to those that need it more than we do -
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