Ethiopia didn't just blow my mind; it opened my mind. Anyway, on our last day at this orphanage a man handed me his baby and said, 'Would you take my son with you?' He knew, in Ireland, that his son would live, and that in Ethiopia, his son would die.

Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival?

Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep.

On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always gone ahead, believing in the right to information.

For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms.

The way forward is by building political support for republican and democratic objectives across Ireland and by winning support for these goals internationally.