The Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews with Sally O'Neill of Trocaire and Adrian Fitzgerald of APSO (above), viewing hurricane and flood devastation in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, last week.
The Minister visited seven countries - Honduras, Trinidad, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, St Lucia, Antigua and Guyana - in 10 days and met three presidents, two prime ministers and nine ministers. In Honduras he announced that the four Irish agencies, which also include Concern and GOAL, would receive £50,000 for immediate relief, and that a contingent from the Army would help with reconstruction.
In the Caribbean countries the Minister lobbied for a place for Ireland on the UN Security Council in 2001/2002 and in St Lucia, after Mass in Castries he had breakfast with the Presentation Brothers. Brother Dominic Brunnock pointed out that St Columb's in Derry was not the only school to produce two Nobel laureates - Seamus Heaney and John Hume. Their school, St Mary's College, had done likewise, with writer Derek Walcott and economist Anthony Lewis.