A Little Bit of Foreign Policy

In amongst the Bertiegate, there are two pieces which have caught my eye, if only for the glamour of the subject content, relating to foreign policy.

The first is the announcement by An Taoiseach that the country is about to donate E70 Million to an ongoing effort by the Clinton Foundation to battle HIV/Aids. E60 million is heading for Mozambique, while the remaining E10 Million is heading for Lesotho. While the government have had to reset their timetable for reaching the 0.7% GDP target for overseas aid to 2012, to the chagrin of charities, we still have an enviable position in terms of where we stand relative to our size.

The second, and possibly more interesting piece, comes via a Fine Gael press release:

The passage of the International Criminal Court Bill 2003 into Irish law provided an excellent opportunity for Ireland to provide a statutory mechanism to ensure that perpetrators of atrocities will never find safe haven in our country. The ongoing conflict in Sudan is a powerful reminder that genocide and crimes against humanity are every bit as critical an issue in the 21st century as they were in the 20th. Ireland has a proud record of defending human rights across the world, but has an equally important role to play in terms of its own domestic security.

I suspect the Tanaiste was attending more earnestly to those who pay the Celtic Tiger in Washington and was keen to avoid a repeat of the panic that engulfed the Belgian Government when their courts showed the temerity to go after George Bush and other American officials over war crimes. It is perhaps an opportunity lost as much as one sigh of relief for DoFA officials.