On Friday, the Oireachtas Committee dealing with Foreign Affairs and Trade presented its report on the Department’s contribution to Ireland’s economic recovery. This report was debated as part of the Government’s new reforms, which aim to devote more time in the chamber to the debating of Committee reports.

Speaking on the report, I made the following points:

• The important work the government has done in restoring Ireland’s reputation abroad
• The value of trade in influencing other countries’ domestic policies and the need to avoid hypocrisy when criticising other countries’ human rights records, in light of our own record
• The vital work that our diplomats do in non-trade related areas and the importance of not reducing our understanding and valuation of our diplomatic corps to simple trade terms
• The need to match our foreign policy with our own investment policies; i.e. divesting our pension reserve fund from those companies that manufacture nuclear weapons.

You can read my full speech here or click here to watch.

You can also read the committee’s full report here.