On Thursday 1st December a debate was held in the Dáil on the World Trade Organisation, in advance of the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong. This is only the second time that trade has been debated in the Dáil since Ireland joined the WTO. Both debates have been the result of lobbying by Trade Matters, the Irish NGO coalition on trade. Trade Matters prepared a Briefing Paper, entitled 'An Agenda for Trade Justice', which was circulated to many TDs in advance of the debate. This paper is available on Banúlacht's website. Banúlacht also circulated our briefing paper and a lobby letter to the members of relevant committees and to a number of other TDs, especially women TDs (both the briefing paper and the letter are on the website). Twenty-two TDs spoke in total, about half of whom addressed the concerns of developing countries. Of those, five deputies made reference to the link between gender equality, development and human rights. One TD, Brendan Howlin, made direct reference to Banúlacht's gender and trade briefing paper, which may be Banúlacht's first ever mention in the Dáil. However, as Michael D Higgins pointed out in his speech, development issues are only ever debated in the Dáil on a Thursday, when most TDs have gone home, and only ever in the form of statements, rather than a true debate.