asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in the light of the UN General Assembly debate last autumn and the conference in Helsinki on 3rd July, 1973, there is likely to be an increase in cultural co-operation involving the free movement of ideas and people between the East and West.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cultural Co-operation.
24.
The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe is presently the major international framework within which negotiations leading towards improvements in the area mentioned by the Deputy are taking place. This conference, the first stage of which took place in Helsinki in July, 1973, has been proceeding in its second stage at Geneva for some months. One of the main agenda items in this major conference is co-operation in humanitarian and other fields which contains as sub-items human contacts, information and co-operation and exchanges in the fields of culture and education. The other two main agenda items deal with security and economic co-operation.
A large number of proposals for improved cultural co-operation and freer movement of ideas and people between East and West have been tabled and discussed. It is not yet possible, however, to say to what extent these proposals will find expression in the final documents of the conference.
Can the Minister tell us whether the recent treatment of Comrade Solzhenitsyn would be in accord with the spirit of this co-operation?
No, it would not be in accord with the kind of arrangements that we would like to see in operation and which we are seeking to have incorporated into the results of this conference.
Will the Minister register his disapproval of this treatment at the United Nations or elsewhere?
I do not think there is a particular forum for registering disapproval of individual acts of this kind at the United Nations but I am happy to register it here and I am glad the Deputy has given me an opportunity of doing so.