Newly appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Peter Power, got a rapturous reception at a celebration party last weekend as the Limerick East representative began in his new role.

This week at his Henry Street offices, he said that he was relishing his appointment by Taoiseach Brian Cowen last week.

“I am humbled by the honour that I’ve received and daunted by the responsibility as well. It’s obviously a personal honour but I’d like to think that it’s an honour for the city too. The Taoiseach had huge talent to select from and any of them would have done a fantastic job. To have the confidence of the new Taoiseach in me was very satisfying,” he said.

One of Deputy Power’s first tasks was to deal with humanitarian tragedies in Burma and China.

“I had to handle both of those situations on Monday morning and we’ve pledged €2 million initially to help with those disasters. The tragedy in both cases is unprecedented and owe a duty to those people to do our best. I am looking forward to working to combat poverty and to be able to help the least well off is something that everyone in public life strives to do.”

Deputy Power said that in an informal briefing with the Taoiseach last week, he was asked to pay special attention to the campaign for a ‘Yes’ vote in the Lisbon Reform Treaty and he and his staff have now begun canvassing on the issue.

“Ireland has done well out of the EU and our future lies in Europe. Ireland would suffer terribly if a ‘No’ vote is passed and the reality is that we will continue to do well with a ‘Yes’ vote. The reason why we have so much direct investment is that we are a shop window for Europe and if we reject the treaty it would send it the wrong message entirely.”

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