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‘This is NOT a junket’
17.11.11
MacLochlainn angrily
refutes five-star claims
by Caoimhinn Barr, Inishowen
Independent
INISHOWEN TD Padraig MacLochlainn this week angrily
refuted claims that he is on a junket in Ethiopia
after local reports suggested he was staying in a
luxury five-star hotel.
Speaking from the east African capital Addis Ababa
yesterday, the Buncrana deputy said he had no choice
but to stay in the local Hilton Hotel, which is not
a five-star facility, due to serious levels of
security threat in the city.
“I would prefer to stay in a two or three star hotel
but we had no choice but to stay at the Hilton
because of its high level of security. It is like
going into an airport when you enter the building.
There are Ethiopians at war with Somalia and Eritrea
and it is a very serious situation here,”
MacLochlainn said.
“The hotel we are staying in is NOT five-star. It is
at the same level as the Inishowen Gateway or Mount
Errigal and costs €150 per night,” he added.
The Sinn Fein spokesperson on foreign affairs is in
Ethiopia as part of a cross-party delegation to
examine Irish government-funded projects and raise
concerns over the African state’s human rights
record with local officials.
The Inishowen politician was also quick to point out
that the Irish group is today set to check into a
‘two or three-star hotel’ in a different part of the
country where the security threat is considerably
lower.
Explaining the purpose of African visit,
MacLochlainn said it has been one of the most moving
experiences of his life. |
“I have met with
fundraisers at Concern, GOAL, Trocaire and Oxfam and
every time I saw them they asked me to go to Africa
to witness at first-hand how the money is being
spent. Ireland donates around €30M to Ethiopia every
year and we have a duty to find out how that money
is being spent. It is five years since an Irish
delegation was out here,” he said.
“I travelled six hours in the back of a truck on a
dirt road to go to a refugee camp, where hundreds of
poor people are streaming over the border from the
Sudan. I was covered in red clay with the smell of
wood fire smoke. I have never been so moved in my
life.” |
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Padraig MacLochlainn |
“The people of Donegal
always rise to the mark when it comes to helping
poor people across the world and their help has
contributed to the fact that there is now no famine
across Ethiopia – that is something to be proud of,”
MacLochlainn added.
The Inishowen TD concluded by saying that his role
as foreign affairs spokesperson was one in which he
must travel from time to time. |
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