Motion on the Haiti Disaster - 27th January 2010.

Motion on the Haiti Disaster - 27th January 2010.
Senator David Norris: I very much welcome the motion. The issue has the attention of the Irish people and it is on the political agenda as well. The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs had an interesting and useful discussion on this subject this afternoon, in the presence of representatives of Haven, Concern and various other organisations. The delegates were looking for aid etc. They pleaded for practical things like 900 latrines. This is the level which the relief effort is at. I pointed out that the crisis in Haiti has to be seen in a political context. That is what the joint committee, like the Parliament as a whole, does. In that light, we must consider the immediate and the historical contexts. I have learned more about Haiti in recent days.

I am not sure if the Minister of State saw a remarkable documentary on RTE television last week, which dealt with the work of a Roman Catholic priest from Massachusetts and, more importantly, the work of two Irish women, Dr. Louise Ivers and Ms Gena Heraty. It was remarkable to see Dr. Ivers operating in very difficult circumstances. When I spoke to her on the telephone yesterday, she told me it is possible that there will be an outbreak of dengue fever in the area. It is an extremely serious matter. I am very proud of Dr. Ivers, as I am of Ms Heraty, who said on the documentary, as she cradled in her arms a young spastic child who had been abandoned, that every human being has the right to be protected, loved, hugged and walked with on their journey through life. It is an accident that the people of Ireland are so privileged. There was a justified sense of outrage in the voices of the three people who featured in the programme.

Many people do not know about the Haitian Revolution of the beginning of the 19th century, which was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture. Slaves who had been brutally wrenched out of Africa, and planted in Haiti to be tortured, murdered and raped, revolted for the first time in 1802 or 1804. Their punishment for asserting their independence continues to this day. The people of Haiti were punished shamefully by France. I did not know until recently that France forced Haiti to pay reparations until 1947. Similar interventions were made by the Governments of Britain and the United States.

One of my colleagues made a coy reference to a change of regime in Haiti. There have been several changes of regime in Haiti. The US helped to install Papa Doc Duvalier, who took approximately $900 million from his impoverished country. The US got rid of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was elected by over 70% of the people of Haiti, with the connivance of the Haitian military and the remains of the Tonton Macoute. They put him into a car, took him to the airport, put him on an airplane and flew him to South Africa. How is that for regime change? How is that for democracy?

No one can prevent earthquakes or hurricanes — they are natural phenomena. Although the documentary I mentioned was made before the recent earthquake, the situation was desperate even at that stage. Haiti is ranked 149th of 182 countries on the UN index. It is not an accident that Haiti is the only country in the western hemisphere with such a low ranking. That has not resulted from hurricanes and earthquakes — it has resulted from the way in which Haiti has been driven down. If the earthquake had happened in any other country in the region, it would not have done the same damage. The people of Haiti are so poverty-stricken that they are unable to build houses in the appropriate way.

I would like to make a practical point in the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Power. A meeting that is taking place in Davos at present was brought to my attention by my colleague, Senator Hanafin.


Senator Dominic Hannigan: Excuse me——


Senator David Norris: I am sorry, I meant to refer to Senator Hannigan. What a blooper.


Senator Dominic Hannigan: There is a big difference.


Senator David Norris: There is a very big difference. One might say it is the difference between right and left. Senator Hannigan mentioned the meeting in Davos to me. At today’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, I said it is obscene that the International Monetary Fund has dared to respond to the Haitian earthquake by offering loans to that impoverished country. Haiti has so much debt that it has all the qualifications for being exempted from some of it. The IMF is offering loans to Haiti to impoverish it further. That must not happen. Rather than giving loans to Haiti, the IMF should cancel its debt.

Senator Hannigan has suggested to me that the Minister of State should get on the telephone after he leaves this Chamber. He should instruct the Irish representatives in Davos to state that it is a shame that the IMF, in the midst of this catastrophe, continues to expect Haiti to make repayments. How and when will Haiti be able to repay its debts? The west’s interference in Haiti destroyed the presidency and humiliated and beggared the people. We do not appear to have any sense of our moral debt to that country. We owe it to the people to Haiti to cancel its debts.

I am proud of the Irish contribution to the relief effort, particularly the two women I have mentioned. As I said at this afternoon’s committee meeting, I neither know nor care what their religious complexion is. However, I know, on the basis of my understanding of Christianity, that they are true Christians. We need to live up to their standards. We can help with the reconstruction of Haiti. It must be reconstructed properly, however. Denis O’Brien’s Digicel house should not have been the only building to survive the earthquake. It should have been the case that 75% of the buildings in Port-au-Prince survived the earthquake, rather than 75% of them being devastated. I am proud of all the Irish organisations. It is wonderful that Aer Lingus has got involved as it has done.

While I honour the good work that has been done in Haiti by members of the armed forces of the United States and Israel, we should show a little caution. I am worried that the various countries are not acting in a co-ordinated way. Each country seems to be acting for itself. An Italian earthquake expert was quoted in the media the other day as saying that a “bella figura”, or beauty parade, was taking place. People should not be allowed to use the aftermath of the earthquake to massage their image. The United Nations should ensure that a single person or small group of people is charged with the co-ordination of the relief effort. If that is not done, the response will be patchy. Aid agencies are competing and bidding for the parts of the city they want to work in, while large sections of it are not covered at all.

Life expectancy in Haiti is 59 years. The HIV-AIDS rate is 5.6%. Some 40% of Haitian households experience food insecurity. We need to do something serious about the current situation in Haiti. I would like to say, in the presence of Her Excellency, the Cuban ambassador to Ireland, that I was most interested in a reference to Cuba in a document published by the European Union Institute for Security Studies:

Haiti matters in the Caribbean. It is the most populated country in the archipelago and its closeness to Cuba makes it an appropriate place to launch operations or to monitor its anti-US neighbour. In short, cynics will say that sending marines to Port-au-Prince probably serves several purposes.

It is clear that from an American point of view, it is very useful to have troops saturating the island.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for giving me his percussion. I welcome the motion before the House. I understand that no amendment to the motion has been proposed. The motion can be agreed unanimously and wholeheartedly. I hope Senator Hannigan will pursue the idea of contacting the Irish officials in Davos. He mentioned the idea to me this afternoon after I had spoken about the need to cancel Haiti’s debt. It is a wonderful idea. I hope Senators on all sides of the House will support it.