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Senator Mark Daly: I support Senator Mac Conghail’s call to invite former President Robinson to the House to give her views on her visit to Africa. The Horn of Africa is facing its worst famine in 60 years. A total of 10 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya face starvation. Given our own history, the view of Africa from this side of the world is probably similar to the view the Victorians had of the Irish, namely, that we deserved what we got. When Lord Trevelyan closed the famine relief efforts and soup kitchens, he said the situation in Ireland shall be left to the operation of natural causes. I am sure there are elements in the World Bank looking at the situation in the Horn of Africa who have a similar Victorian-type view.

Dr. Nally, who is publishing a book on the Famine, Political Violence and the Great Irish Famine, spoke about the structural violence in terms of the Famine. There was an institutional arrangement that made society vulnerable to famine. It made us dependent on our near neighbour without us being able to realise our potential. The same situation applies in Africa today. The notion that science can provide a solution to famine is not true because famine is a human phenomenon. It can be solved through politics. In the same way as ships were leaving this country during the Famine laden with food for ports in other countries while relief ships were on the way, Africa, which has an abundance of resources in ores, diamonds and gold has all its resources leaving its land while people are starving at the same time.